Four Mali soldiers killed in suspected jihadist attack

Four Mali soldiers were killed and eight wounded Sunday in a suspected jihadist attack on an army camp in the far north of the country, the Malian military said.

"The provisional toll is four dead, eight injured and several vehicles taken," army colonel Boubacar Sanogoh, regional commander for the Timbuktu region, told AFP.

The outpost in Bambara Maoude, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Timbuktu city, "was the object at about 0500 GMT of a terrorist attack," the military had earlier tweeted alongside an initial toll of three dead and five wounded, plus "material damage".

Communications Minister Yaya Sangare confirmed a death toll of four and tweeted that, following "intervention by the Malian airforce, backed by (French-led force) Barkhane and (UN mission) MINUSMA, the post is under (army) control".