:: Witnesses say at least 10 Malian soldiers have been killed and nine others wounded in an ambush on a military convoy in central Mali.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Diarran Kone said the convoy was hit Tuesday between the towns of Diabaly and Nampala.

He declined to give a death toll, but a soldier in the region who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists confirmed 10 dead.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, suspicion fell on the jihadist groups operating in Mali’s increasingly violent central region.

Over the last week, witnesses have spoken of dozens of radical Islamic fighters circulating in the area. Malian soldiers and UN peacekeepers are frequent targets of such attacks.