Malian troops foil suicide bomb attack

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Malian troops shot at a suicide bomber who then blew up at a checkpoint in the northern city of Gao late on Saturday, the second attempted suicide attack on the same location in two days, a Malian military source and a witness said on Sunday.

No other casualties were reported in the incident in the town, which was recaptured late last month by French and Malian troops who drove out al Qaeda-allied Islamist insurgents.

On Friday, a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up at the same checkpoint, wounding a Malian soldier.

The incidents have raised fears of more guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against French and African forces as they secure towns retaken from the the Islamist rebels and pursue them in the mountains of northeastern Mali.