| 1 | BAMAKO, Mali (AP) " Islamic extremists attacked a hotel in central Mali near an army camp in Sevare, an army spokesman said Friday. |
| 2 | The jihadists exchanged fire with the army near the Hotel Debo, said Col. |
| 3 | Souleymane Maiga. |
| 4 | Smoke was coming from the hotel, said a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety. |
| 5 | "This morning as I was leaving for work I heard shots and saw smoke coming from the Hotel Debo. The area is surrounded by soldiers who told us to return to our homes," he said. |
| 6 | Attacks by extremists on Malian army positions have moved into central and southern Mali this year. |
| 7 | On Saturday, two Malian soldiers were killed and five were injured when their convoy was ambushed in the center of the country on the road between the towns of Nampala and Diabaly. |
| 8 | In March, a masked gunman opened fire at a restaurant popular with foreigners in Bamako, the capital, killing five people. |
| 9 | And in late June, gunmen killed three soldiers in a village near the border with Mauritania, then the next day briefly occupied a village near the border with Ivory Coast. |
| 10 | The Ansar Dine extremist group later said it was behind those attacks. |
| 11 | Mali's north fell under the control of Islamic extremists following a military coup in 2012. |
| 12 | A French-led military intervention in 2013 scattered the extremists. |