Credit: Facebook Forces Armee Malienne /   Les Forces Armées Maliennes (FAMa) sont responsables de la défense de l’intégrité territoriale et la souveraineté du Mali

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Five soldiers  were killed in central Mali on Wednesday when their convoy was ambushed by jihadists, the armed forces said. The Mali Army stated  on its Twitter feed  that the attack occurred on a road between the villages of Boni and Hombori.  “FAMA (the Malian armed forces) suffered five dead. Equipment was also destroyed,” it said.  A local official said gunfire was heard and another said “the jihadists… burned at least two military vehicles. At least two soldiers were also wounded.”

Dans le cadre de leurs missions de sécurisation, une mission d'escorte des #FAMa est tombée dans une embuscade entre #Boni et #Hombori. C'est ce matin 21 aout 2019. Les #FAMa déplorent 5 morts, du matériel a été aussi détruit.
Des renforts y ont été aussitôt dépêchés. pic.twitter.com/GJTeiFpMLe

— Forces Armées Maliennes (@FAMa_DIRPA) August 21, 2019

UN Mission In  Mali  Is The Deadliest In World For Peacekeepers

Les contingents du Niger et du Bangladesh lors d’une opération militaire à Ansongo. Photo MINUSMA/Marco Dormino

In 2012, Islamist radicals linked to al-Qaeda hijacked an uprising by ethnic Tuareg people and went on to seize cities across northern Mali, holding on for nearly a year until they were forced out by a French military intervention, according to the Washington Post. When the 11,000 U.N. troops arrived in 2013, they were meant to protect a fledgling peace deal and train the Malian army. But Islamist extremists regrouped across the region. It did not take long before the militants started targeting peacekeepers, whom they dubbed “Crusader occupation forces.”

MALI  CURRENTLY IN A CRISIS SITUATION DESPITE THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN TROOPS DEPLOYED 

MINUSMA  MALI is the  deadliest peacekeeping mission in the world. Since 2013, when MINUSMA deployed,  nearly 200 peacekeepers have died in Mali, including close to  120 killed during hostilities.   The deadly violence has spiraled out of control this year, in particular, with no end in sight despite the presence of thousands of UN and international peacekeeping troops in Mali,  and across the Sahel region.

France  Operation Barkhane  Counter-Terror   Forces In Africa’s Sahel  Region

Credit:  weaponsandwarfare.com /   France Operation Barkhane began on August 1, 2014 and took over the precedent French mission in Mali, Operation Serval.

Credit:  weaponsandwarfare.com /   France Operation Barkhane began on August 1, 2014 and took over the precedent French mission in Mali, Operation Serval.

The current 4,500-troops Operation Barkhane  has a mandate for counter-terrorism operations across the Sahel, including 2,700 soldiers in Mali to bolster that west African nation’s army.