February 19
19:22
2016
Suspected jihadists killed two Malian soldiers Friday in the country's restive north, hours before France's prime minister visited French troops deployed in the region to help quash the Sahel's Islamist threat. The Malian defence ministry confirmed the two deaths and said a third soldier was wounded in the assault on a Malian army post in the town of Menaka. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Friday morning met French troops stationed in the main town of Gao.