“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.”
Source: Twenty Malian soldiers killed in failed assault on rebel town: minister | Reuters