Two Mali soldiers killed in Timbuktu attack

Two Malian soldiers were killed Tuesday in a pre-dawn attack against an army checkpoint outside Timbuktu in northern Mali, the defence ministry and a UN source told AFP.

"We lost two men this Tuesday at about 3am (0300 GMT) at our checkpoint north of Timbuktu," a defence ministry official said. The attack by unknown assailants was confirmed by a security source at MINUSMA, the UN mission in the country.