Al-Qaida-linked extremists kill Mali officer in Timbuktu

Dakar: A group that monitors extremists' online activity says al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has said it killed a Malian officer outside his Timbuktu home.

SITE Intelligence Group says the jihadists said yesterday on their Twitter account the officer killed July 31 had a relationship with French and Mauritanian intelligence and was behind the deaths of two fighters in Timbuktu. It threatened similar "traitors."

SITE Intelligence Group also said extremist group Ansar Dine released a video of five Malian soldiers taken prisoner after a July 19 attack on military barracks in Nampala that killed 17 others. The group's foundation posted the video on its Telegram channel.

The Macina Liberation Front, which has ties to Ansar Dine, claimed responsibility for the attack. Authorities arrested one its leaders for the attack last week.