Mali's opposition leader kidnapped, bodyguard killed [Morning Call]

Malian opposition leader Soumaila Cisse has been abducted along with six members of his team while campaigning in the centre of the country.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Cisse’s Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD) party said the politician and his team had gone missing after campaigning near the town of Niafunke, in central Mali.

In a subsequent briefing, the party said Cisse’s bodyguard was killed and two others wounded when unidentified gunmen ambushed the group between villages in the northern region of Timbuktu.

Our journalist Chancela Gningui has been following the developments and filed in this report.