[Maghrebia] Dozens of Malian troops and al-Qaeda fighters are dead after weekend clashes in northern Mali, near the southwestern border of Algeria, local and international press reported on Monday (July 5th). In a statement published Sunday on an Islamist website, al Qaeda fighters in the Sahara region claimed to have been warned that the Malian army was preparing to attack at dawn on Saturday, El Khabar reported, The terrorists said they initiated the fighting to surprise the soldiers. They also claimed to have killed the senior Malian officer who led the attack."This is a total struggle against Al-Qaeda we're engaged in. I mean total," Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure was quoted by AFP as saying late Monday.
The Malian army recently killed 26 armed fighters at an al-Qaeda camp near the Algerian border - the first such assault ever mounted in Mali. Mali began its major counter-terrorism operation June 10th in the "Sahel-Sahara band" of Northern Mali and the border region with Algeria, Niger and Mauritania.