BAMAKO 6 Jan (ANA) - Officials in Mali say five soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb attack on a military convoy near the border with Mauritania.

 

A government spokesman, Yaya Sangare, said reinforcements were sent to the scene, near a base in Alatona in south-central Mali.

 

In 2012 Islamist militants took over most of northern Mali.

 

French troops helped recapture the territory but attacks have continued in Mali and the jihadist violence has spread to the neighbouring countries of Niger and Burkina Faso.

 

More than 140 Malian soldiers died in attacks between September and December.(ANA)

FA/ANA/6 January 2020-------