Several soldiers killed in central Mali attack

Nine other soldiers were wounded, five of them seriously, amid a long exchange of fire with armed groups.

Nine soldiers have been killed in an attack near the central Malian town of Bandiagara, in an area where armed groups are rampant, a military official has said. Army and local officials had earlier spoken of a death toll of eight in the attack on a gendarmerie post which took place on Thursday night. Nine Malian soldiers were also wounded, five of them seriously, according to a military official who declined to be named.