Five killed in attack near Malian capital

Unidentified assailants killed five people in an attack on a civil defence post near the Malian capital Bamako late on Monday, a security ministry statement said on Tuesday.

It did not say who was responsible for the attack, which occurred around 80 km (50 miles) from Bamako in an area in southwestern Mali that has been relatively untouched by the Islamist insurgency ravaging central and northern regions.

Two members of the civil defence force and three civilians were killed in the attack, it said, without elaborating.