At least 10 soldiers were killed on Sunday when jihadists stormed an army base in San, a town in central Mali, security sources said.
The al-Qaida-linked group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the assault. Attackers temporarily occupied the camp before withdrawing, a security source said. The Malian army, however, described the incident as a mere attempted attack on the San base early Sunday morning.
The assault follows a deadly ambush on 18 July in northern Mali, in which at least 50 soldiers were killed when an army convoy was attacked by a coalition of JNIM fighters and Tuareg separatists of the Azawad Liberation Front.