“On the morning of Tuesday, March 12, 2019, two Malian armed forces escort vehicles drove on Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), killing two in Dialloubé and four respectively in the vicinity of Hombori, in the Mopti region of central Mali,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement issued on Tuesday evening.
Already nine other soldiers were killed on 1 March in the Mopti region following a mine explosion as their vehicle drove by.
Foreign forces based in Mali regularly train Malian soldiers on mine issues but the danger still lingers.
Even civilians are not spared.
On January 25, 2018, a truck carrying fairgrounds drove over a mine near Boni, still in the centre of the country. Twenty-six civilians, including women and children, also died.
This is the heaviest toll from landmine and other explosive devices in Mali in recent years.
In addition, the authorities called on the population “to remain vigilant and to continue to support their army in its drive to secure the country.”