Mali junta leader’s chief of staff and three others killed in ambush

Bamako  — Malian interim president's chief of staff, Oumar Traore, and three others have been killed in an ambush, the government said on Thursday.

The attack on a government convoy took place in the rural area of Nara in Mali’s southwestern Koulikoro region, the statement said, without providing further detail on when the ambush occurred or who was responsible for it. Reports said the convoy was travelling to Mauritania.

One other person, a driver who was travelling with the delegation, is missing, it added.

The military junta is now led by Col Assimi Goita.  

Mali is one of several West African countries battling a violent jihadist insurgency that has spread from its arid north over the past decade.

Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have seized swathes of territory across the region, killed thousands and displaced millions.

Frustrations against the authorities’ failure to quell the violence have spurred two military takeovers in Mali since 2020.

Reuters