Eleven soldiers killed in Mali attack

Eleven killed and five wounded in attack on base
near border with Burkina Faso, defence ministry
says.

Eleven soldiers have been killed and five wounded in an
 attack on a military base in Mali as rival armed groups surrounded the city of Timbuktu.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the 
attack near the border with Burkina Faso on Sunday but armed groups, including al-Qaeda affiliates, have been increasingly active in recent months, attacking army posts beyond their usual strongholds in the north.


"The post was attacked between 4am and 5am in Boulikessi,"
defence spokesman Abdoulaye Sidibé told the Reuters 
News Agency, adding that reinforcements had been sent to the area.

Armed group such as Ansar Dine have upped the frequency
 of their attacks over the past year.

In 2016, the group carried out scores of attacks, including
 on United Nations peacekeepers , while spreading into the south and other areas previously deemed secure.

Al-Qaeda's North African ally, al-Mourabitoun, claimed
responsibility for an attack on a military camp in January 
that killed up to 60 people and wounded at least 100.

Mali is awash with weapons and home to several rival 
armed groups. Its northeast has been in a state of 
emergency , which gives security forces extra powers, 
since a wave of violence last year.

The north of the country fell under the control of Tuareg-led
rebels and groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012, who were
largely ousted by a French-led assault in January 2013.

The implementation of a peace deal agreed in 2015, 
though, has been piecemeal and, despite the presence of
 at least 11,000 UN peacekeepers, armed groups who 
refused to sign are active across large parts of the country.