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Nine Mali troops were killed in November by mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the country's central and southern regions, which are under the control of a ten-year extremist insurgency, the military reported on Sunday.

In a statement, the armed forces said that they "were in November 2022 the object of three IED attacks leaving nine troops dead in combat, eight injured and three vehicles damaged." 

The majority of the fighting took place in the north throughout the month, but it also spread to the southern region of Sikasso, which had previously been largely spared from unrest caused by organizations like the GSIM, which was run by Iyad Ag Ghali, a Tuareg with ties to Al-Qaeda”.

Since 2012, an insurgency in Mali has claimed thousands of lives and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes. It has since expanded to the neighboring countries of Niger and Burkina Faso.

Malian army officers staged a coup in 2020 as a result of their despair over the rising death toll.

The next year, Malian forces launched a significant offensive against the extremists amid widespread rumors that the junta in power had dispatched Russian paramilitaries, a claim denied by Bamako but one that led France to cease sending troops.

According to the most recent statement from the armed forces, troops "neutralized" more than 70 "terrorists" in November and discovered supplies to build IEDs, grain, and animals that local inhabitants are required to turn over to the extremists as a type of tax.

It is worth noting that the statement is difficult to confirm given the lack of access on the ground as well as independent and consistent sources to back up the army account.