At least 49 civilians and 15 soldiers were killed when militants attacked a military camp and a vessel in northeastern Mali, the interim government has said in a statement read on national television.

Many more were wounded, it added in the statement on Thursday, noting that the death toll was provisional.

Suspected insurgents attacked a boat carrying civilians across the flooded plains that separate the towns of Gao and Mopti during the rainy season.

The vessel was travelling from Gao when it was hit.

Assailants also attacked a military base in the Bourem Circle, an administrative subdivision of the Gao region in Mali's northeast.

Around 50 assailants were killed in response, and three days of national mourning was declared, the interim government said.

Fragile region

The impoverished country has been struggling with insecurity since 2012, when a revolt led by ethnic Tuaregs erupted in the troubled north.

Militants have gained ground, spreading across the Sahel and to coastal West African nations, despite costly international efforts to support local troops.

Thousands have been killed and over six million displaced across the Sahel region south of the Sahara.

Frustrations about growing insecurity spurred two military takeovers in Mali and two in Burkina Faso since 2020 — four of eight coups to hit West and Central Africa over the past three years.