BAMAKO (Reuters) – Gunmen killed 24 Malian soldiers in an ambush on their convoy in central Mali on Sunday, a spokesman for the west African nation’s army said.

“Twenty-four Mali army personnel died, 8 survivors have been found,” Colonel Diarran Kone, told Reuters.

The attack is the deadliest since a November 2019 attack when 53 soldiers were killed during an assault on an army post in the north of the country.