BAMAKO, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Seven Malian soldiers were killed and three wounded in two terrorist attacks in western and central Mali, said the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) on its official website on Saturday.
An army escort was ambushed near the town of Mourdiah in western Mali around Saturday noon, resulting in two deaths and two injuries, according to a preliminary report.
In addition, in the town of Segou in central Mali, a pick-up vehicle of a FAMa patrol was attacked by a mine in the locality of Niendjela on Saturday afternoon.
"The 5 occupants of the vehicle all succumbed. The sweep in the area of the incident allowed the arrest of 2 suspects immediately available to the gendarmerie," said the FAMa.
The latest attacks came after FAMa troops suffered two fatal attacks earlier this month.
On Oct. 17, a Malian soldier and four terrorists were killed in an attack on an army post in Acharane in the Timbuktu region in northern Mali.
On Oct. 6, a complex attack targeted a convoy of the Malian army on the Koro-Bandiagara axis at the center of the country, killing 16 people and injuring nine in the FAMa ranks, who responded the attack by killing 15 terrorists and seizing 20 motorcycles.
Since 2012, Mali has been facing serious security, political and economic crises. Independence insurrections, jihadist incursions and inter-communal violence have caused thousands of deaths and displaced hundreds of thousands of people despite the presence of UN, French and European forces. Enditem
