Mali says new attack 'foiled' against military camp

The Malian army said on Sunday that it had thwarted a new attack on a military camp in the centre of the country, two days after a deadly suicide attack in a strategic garrison town near the capital.

Armed forces "once again foiled" an attempted attack on a camp in Sevare early on Sunday, the army said on social media. "The provisional toll stands at one terrorist neutralised," it added.

A high-ranking official from the Sevare camp, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The situation is under control."

"Our camp of the national guard has been attacked on Sunday at Sevare by terrorists... During the response, we neutralised a terrorist," the official said.

On Friday, Mali said it had repelled a suicide raid by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists of the Katiba Macina group with two vehicle-borne bombs that killed at least one soldier in Kati, the heart of the Malian military establishment.

The Malian army has intensified its anti-jihadist operations in recent months, relying on what it describes as Russian instructors.

Despite a deteriorating security situation, the junta turned its back on France and its international partners, instead leaning on Russia to stem the threat posed by jihadists to Mali, as well as Burkina Faso and Niger. (AFP)