DAKAR, Senegal — The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 30 soldiers this week in the West African nation of Mali, where extremists are gaining ground in their bloody pursuit to seize territory.
In a statement late Wednesday, the group’s West Africa arm said it wounded another 30 soldiers while mentioning no deaths among its fighters.
The Malian army, which routinely tangles with extremists in the country’s restive north, said Tuesday that 17 enemy militants were killed in the fight at Tabankort in the Gao region, which borders Burkina Faso and Niger.
U.S. officials say the Sahel region, which lies south of the Sahara Desert, threatens to become a safe haven for terrorists to plot and launch attacks worldwide. Mali, which is twice the size of Texas, is a particularly troubling hot spot.
“The rapidly spreading instability in the Sahel threatens U.S. national security and undermines our diplomatic goals,” said Whitney Baird, deputy assistant secretary of state for West Africa and security affairs, at a congressional hearing earlier this month.
“It enables the spread of terrorism, stifles economic growth and thwarts democratic institutions,” she said.
More than 100 soldiers have died in Mali since October in near-weekly clashes as the resource-strapped country tries to shake off a scourge that took root after the Libyan government collapsed in 2011.
Mercenaries once employed by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi streamed back to their native Mali with automatic weapons, triggering a chain reaction of violence that regional security forces and international partners, including France, have since struggled to quash.