Attack on Mali military post kills 53 soldiers

Mali's army has been struggling in the face of a jihadist revolt that has spread from the arid north to its centre, an ethnically mixed and volatile region.

Fifty-three soldiers were killed Friday in a "terrorist attack" on a Mali military post in the northeast of the country, the government said.

The assault is one of the deadliest strikes against Mali's military in recent Islamist militant violence.