Mali: mine explosion kills three soldiers

Three Malian soldiers died Tuesday when their vehicle hit a mine in the Mopti region, near the border with Niger, Tieman Hubert Coulibaly announced, the Malian Defence Minister.
“A vehicle patrol of the Malian Armed Forces stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) in the sector of Mondoro, Mopti region.” The army regrets “three dead and two wounded evacuated to Mopti,” said the minister in a statement to the press.
The Malian army launched a major operation in late October in the Mopti region to hunt down jihadists and security. Dubbed Operation Seno (sand, Fula) and launched in late October, the operation should take three months in this region hit by several attacks attributed to the Macina Liberation Front, led by the radical preacher Fulani Amadou Kufa.