The base is in the village of Dioura, the mayor of the nearest town Kareri, Youssouf Coulibaly, told Reuters by telephone from inside it. Central Mali has in the past few years been overrun by jihadists with links to al Qaeda. Central Mali is the locus of the Macina Liberation Front, led by Salafist preacher and militant leader Amadou Koufa. French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly claimed in November that Koufa had been killed in a raid by French forces. But at the end of last month Koufa appeared in a new propaganda video mocking French and Malian forces.

Source: bd News24 March 17, 2019 10:41 UTC