Three government soldiers killed in Mali rebel attack

At least three Malian soldiers were killed on Monday in a dawn raid by rebels south of the desert town of Timbuktu, a rebel and a U.N. source said, despite a partial signing of a peace deal last week, reports Reuters.

The violence erupted in Bambara Maounde, some 100km (60 miles) south of Timbuktu, another sign of violence spreading beyond the northern strongholds of the various rebels still active despite the deployment of French and United Nations troops in Mali.

A U.N. military source, who asked not to be named, said three government soldiers had been killed and one wounded.

Mohamed el Maouloud Ramadane, a senior figure in the Arab MAA faction of the separatist rebel CMA coalition, claimed the raid on recently deployed soldiers and gendarmes in the area.

He said it killed at least 10 security personnel.

Souleymane Maiga, a spokesman for Mali’s military, confirmed the early morning attack but gave no further details.

The CMA alliance, made up of Tuareg and Arab-led rebels fighting in Mali since 2012, have committed to Mali’s peace process but they refused to sign a deal last week with the government and its allied armed groups.

The repeated clashes are overshadowing what diplomats hope will be a step towards pacifying Mali’s north, which has been gripped by violence since the 2012 separatist rebellion was hijacked by al Qaeda-linked Islamists, forcing a French military intervention in early 2013.