Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita says his people will not be frightened by attacks after unidentified gunmen killed at least 14 soldiers in a pre-dawn assault on a military camp in Soumpi. It happened only two days after the attack in the central Mali village of Boni that took the lives of 26 people. It's in an area targeted by a growing wave of attacks by militant groups.

IBRAHIM BOUBACAR KEITA MALI PRESIDENT "So with Boni yesterday and Soumpi today, what will we change? Faith. Malians are identified by their faith, not by fear. That is the aim of terrorism: to create fear. But we are not a people to be afraid."

A group of around 30 heavily armed gunmen attacked the military camp in Soumpi, located in the center of the country. 15 others were wounded and 17 of the attackers were killed in the battle. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. West Africa's arid Sahel region is suffering a spike in violence by militant groups, which is drawing an increasingly aggressive response from countries including France and the United States.