Mali's military junta pulls out of regional G5 Sahel force

FILE PHOTO: Colonel Assimi Goita, leader of Malian military junta, attends an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) consultative meeting in Accra, Ghana September 15, 2020. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko

BAMAKO (Reuters) -Mali is pulling out of a multi-national military force in West Africa's Sahel region combatting an Islamist insurgency, the country's military junta said in a statement on Sunday.

The G5 Sahel force, which includes troops from Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, was set up in 2017 to counter jihadists who have swept across the region in recent years, killing thousands of people and forcing millions to flee their homes.