BAMAKO, Mali - Mali's Minister of Defence said in a statement that members of al Qaeda's local affiliate took part in the attacks on towns in the country's north this week.
The statement from Col. Idrissa Traore said the violence at Aguelhok on Tuesday was led by "jihadists from" al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb as well as members of a recently formed Tuareg rebel faction, known as National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad.
The statement issued late Thursday said the army fought back and that "in the course of this operation, important losses were registered -- both human as well as material." Earlier Traore had said that 36 people died in Aguelhok, including 35 of the attackers and one soldier.
A new Tuareg insurgency is sweeping across Mali's north, and in just over a week, the group has attacked five towns spread out over more than 800 kilometres.
