United Nations: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on expressed concern about renewed deadly clashes between Malian government forces and Tuareg rebels in the northeast of the country.

"The Secretary General is concerned" about Wednesday's clashes in which 32 people were killed when Tuareg rebels attacked army positions in Mali's far northeast, his office said in a statement yesterday.

"This latest incident underscores the urgent need to find an immediate and lasting solution to this recurrent conflict so that Mali can focus on its development priorities and consolidation of its democracy," the statement added.

Wednesday's clashes at Abeibara left 15 government soldiers dead and six wounded while 17 rebel fighters were killed and 25 injured, Malian army spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Coulibaly told AFP yesterday.

Earlier the Malian defense ministry had put the death toll at 27.

Source : PTI