BAMAKO — About 20 Malian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in a failed attempt by government forces to retake the Tuareg separatist stronghold of Kidal this week, the defense minister said. The fighting, the worst since the government and separatist groups signed a preliminary peace agreement last year, threatens to sink struggling negotiations to end a long cycle of Tuareg uprisings and plunge Mali's desert north back into war. “There were killed and wounded on both sides. We have around 30 wounded ... and then we have some 20 dead unfortunately,” Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said in an address broadcast on state television late on Thursday. – Reuters
