'Jihadists' kill 4 soldiers in Mali's north

Bamako (AFP) - Suspected jihadists on Tuesday killed four Malian soldiers in an attack in the restive northern region of Timbuktu, the French army and a local source said.

The dawn raid on an army camp took place in the remote Gourma Rharous region, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the ancient city of Timbuktu.

"The attack took place at 5:00 am (local and GMT)," said army spokesman Colonel Diarran Kone, adding that the military had lost both men and equipment.

A local source said four soldiers had been killed. The attackers also burnt military vehicles.

Mali's north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012 who hijacked the rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013.

Despite a peace deal signed in 2015 its implementation has been piecemeal and insurgents who refused to sign the agreement are still active across large parts of the country.

The French army said four Malian soldiers died in Tuesday's attack by "armed jihadists."

It said troops serving under Operation Barkhane, a French counterterror operation whose mission is to target jihadist groups operating in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, received a back-up request from Malian soldiers.

They sent a plane and a team of French commandos and about 10 of the fleeing attackers were "neutralised" about 30 kilometres from the camp they raided, the French army said, without specifying if they had been killed or wounded.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali condemned the "terrorist" attack and said it had sent a helicopter to evacuate injured soldiers.

"Almost every day we receive reports of abominable acts of terrorism committed by enemies of peace and enemies of the country and its people," said MINUSMA chief Mahamat Saleh Annadif.