Mali-based extremists claim deadly attack on military base

DAKAR, Senegal – Mauritania’s state-run news agency says a newly formed extremist group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack on a Mali military base that killed at least 17 soldiers.

The SITE Intelligence Group says the news agency reported Friday the claim by Mali-based Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen. The report says the group claims dozens were wounded in the attack on Boulikessi base near the border with Burkina Faso.

Extremist violence has been mounting over the past year along the Mali-Burkina Faso border.

The newly formed extremist group merges Ansar Dine, al-Mourabitoun and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. The groups already had been staging joint attacks, causing insecurity not only in Mali but in neighbouring West African countries.