Clashes in northern Mali between a Tuareg separatist group and jihadist fighters have left nine dead, Tuareg officials said Saturday.
The fighting pitted Al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups against the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) — a secular separatist Tuareg group that currently supports the government.
“After the fighting, we recorded four dead and two wounded in our own ranks… There were five dead on their side,” Mohamed Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, a top MNLA official based in neighbouring Burkina Faso, told AFP.