PARIS—The French presidency announced that two French soldiers were killed on Jan. 2 in Mali when an improvised explosive device hit their armored vehicle, five days after three others died in similar circumstances.

The extremists have expanded their reach well into central Mali, where their presence has inflamed tensions between ethnic groups in the area.

BAMAKO—Al Qaeda-linked Islamist extremists rocketed French military bases in Kidal, Menaka, and Gao in northern Mali within the space of a few hours on Monday morning, a rare sign of coordinated raids on international forces.

Clothing and weapons seized by UK troops in Mali.

UNITED NATIONS—Mali has asked a private Russian military company to help it fight against terrorists, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday at the United Nations.

Former colonizer France and the United Nations, which has maintained a peacekeeping mission in Mali since 2013, also had expressed alarm ahead of Keita's speech, fearful that the fall of Keita could further destabilise Mali and West Africa's entire Sahel

Moussa became a prominent jihadi leader in central Mali in recent years, and a liaison with extremist groups in his native northern Mali, according to Malian military officials.

According to the statement, a third soldier was injured in the blast, which took place in the Tessalit region of Northern Mali. The soldiers were part of France's Barkhane military operations in Mali against Islamic fighters.

Malian doctors, under government orders, sent her to Morocco for the births because hospitals in Mali, one of the world's poorest countries, are ill-equipped to provide adequate care for this exceptional multiple pregnancy.

Among them, nine Chinese nationals in Pakistan died, and three in Mali were kidnapped.

PARIS—France’s defense minister says French military forces fighting Islamic terrorists in West Africa “put away” more than 50 jihadists in a recent operation in Mali.

ECOWAS, which had sought to mediate between Keita and his opponents, said it plans to deploy a fresh mission to Mali to ensure a return to democracy.

BAMAKO, Mali—A 75-year-old French aid worker held hostage for four years by Islamic extremists in Mali arrived Friday in France—and says she wants to return to her aid work with malnourished children in Africa despite the ordeal.

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) meets with Mamoudou Gassama, 22, from Mali, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on May 28, 2018.

Soldiers hold the UN and Malian flags during the ceremony of Peacekeepers' Day at the operating base of MINUSMA in Bamako, Mali, on May 29, 2018.

On Dec. 10, Islamist militants killed 71 soldiers at a remote military camp in Niger near the border with Mali—an attack claimed by a West African branch of ISIS.

OTTAWA—The Canadian Forces' peacekeeping mission in Mali is going to last a little longer than previously planned—but not as long as the United Nations hoped.

From their stronghold in Mali, groups with al Qaeda and ISIS links have been able to fan out across the Sahel, destabilizing parts of Niger and Burkina Faso.

U.N. peacekeeping and French forces are stationed in northern Mali to combat well-armed jihadist groups seen as threatening security across Africa's Sahel region.

Gunmen kill over 100 villagers amid escalating violence in Mali https://t.co/JC7H756eDB pic.twitter.com/pnXMgp2UmY — 1 Click Par (@1clickpar) March 24, 2019 UN: More than 130 killed in Mali ethnic attack on Fulani village https://t.co/VFhLgNUWr3

Okah-Donli said her agency had teamed up with IOM, which arranged the repatriation of 41 women and girls from Mali in December and was working on returning others home.

BAMAKO, Mali—France's anti-terrorism forces in Mali have killed at least 30 al-Qaida-linked extremists in central Mali, including the possible death of a chief jihadi leader, France's armed forces ministry said Friday.

Mali is high on the list of Western powers' security concerns and a respectable election is important in the effort to restore stability to the vast West African nation.

The United Nations on Monday said 162 people deployed in Mali have been killed since 2013, making it the world's deadliest peacekeeping operation.

OTTAWA—Canada's defence and foreign affairs ministers have confirmed the Liberal government's plan to send a helicopter contingent to support the United Nations peace force in Mali.

A spokesman for the G5 force—which is made up of soldiers from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania—said two soldiers and four assailants died in the attack.

The option of sending forces to Mali one day is still alive, said one of the officials.

Mali and its western neighbor Senegal plan to deploy 1,000 troops soon in an operation to pacify central Mali and contain jihadists who had previously been confined to its Saharan expanses in the north.

OTTAWA—The federal government is sending a "reconnaissance mission" to take a closer look at the United Nations peacekeeping operations in Mali.

Coup, Rebellion, Intervention The current cycle of violence in Mali, a former French colony, began in 2012 when Tuareg soldiers returned to northern Mali after fighting in the Libyan civil war.