Bomb Blast Kills 2 Soldiers İn Mali

Two Malian soldiers were killed and four others injured Tuesday in a bomb blast targeting a government convoy in the northeastern town of Bourem, a security source has said.



The explosion took place when the convoy of Mali's rural development minister Bocari Treta was en route to Bourem when it struck a landmine, the source told The Anadolu Agency.



The minister and his delegation members were not harmed in the blast.



Tuesday's blast came after a bomber had blown up himself in the town on Friday.



The bombing comes after the spokesperson for the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) called on militants to plant landmines and attack military convoys.



Tensions erupted in Mali in 2012 following a failed coup and a Tuareg rebellion that ultimately allowed Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups to take over the northern half of the country.



In early 2013, former colonial power France sent troops to Mali and – with the help of Chadian and other African forces – flushed Islamist militants from the country's main northern cities.



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