Mali renews state of emergency after deadly attack

AFP•July 21, 2016

Seventeen soldiers were killed and 35 wounded in central Mali on July 19 in an assault on their base that authorities called a "coordinated terrorist attack" (AFP Photo/Souleymane Ag Anara)

Bamako (AFP) - The Malian government on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, a day after an attack in the centre of the country left 17 soldiers dead and 35 wounded.

In a statement, the government said a period of national mourning would begin on Thursday "in homage to the victims of the terrorist attack" in Nampala, and that the state of emergency would last "for a duration of 10 days".

In the hours after Tuesday's assaults two groups -- one jihadist, the other ethnic -- both claimed to have carried out the raid on the military camp.

A state of emergency had previously been in place in Mali from April this year to July 15. Until Wednesday however, it had not been renewed.