Six Soldiers Killed In Senegal's Casamance Region

A military official says that six Senegalese soldiers have been killed and three wounded in an attack near the border of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.

Col. Ousmane Sar says the soldiers were in a vehicle returning to their base in the southern Casamance region east of its capital Ziguinchor when their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade late Friday. He could not confirm who carried out the attack, but many observers have blamed rebel fighters with the region's Movement of the Democratic Forces.

The group has waged a low-level insurgency against Senegal's government since 1983.

Casamance, separated from the rest of Senegal by Gambia, has been plagued by sporadic violence for years as rebels fought for independence and against each other.