Al-Qaeda-linked group claims Mali attack

A group linked to al-Qaeda says it carried out Friday’s attack on a military base outside the Malian capital, Bamako.

Two car bombs were detonated in the attack which the authorities in Mali said had killed one soldier and seven assailants.

A branch of al-Qaeda’s local affiliate Katiba Macina said the attack was justified because the Malian military was using mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group.

It said one of the bombers was from neighbouring Burkina Faso.

Correspondents say that the fact this happened just nine miles (15 kilometres) from Bamako is another worrying sign of the growing threat the Islamists pose in Mali and the wider Sahel region.