Gunmen kill 17 soldiers at military base in Mali


At least seventeen soldiers have been killed and 35 wounded in central Mali in an assault on a military base.
 
The raid on Tuesday, is the biggest in months in Mali, which faces growing threat from armed groups based in the desert north.
  
Army spokesman Souleymane Maiga said the raiders briefly took control of the base in Nampala close to the Mauritanian border.
  
He said Malian troops retreated to nearby Diabaly to regroup.
  
Maiga said three groups staged the raid, these are Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Macina Liberation Front linked to Ansar Dine and an ethnic Peul group.

SOURCE: BBC News