Gunmen attack convoy with Mali election materials, shootout leaves 12 dead

Gunmen attacked a convoy carrying election materials in central Mali, triggering a shootout in which four soldiers and eight attackers were killed, Reuters reported a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying by telephone on Wednesday. The attack occurred late on Tuesday on the road between Nampala and Coura in the south-central region of Segou, the spokesman said, giving no further details. The party of Malian presidential candidate Soumaila Cisse said on Monday that the poll would go to a run-off between Cisse and President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The vote that was heavily disrupted by suspected Islamist gunmen.