In Northern Mali, three Chinese nationals and two Mauritanians were abducted from a construction site on Saturday. 

Gunmen are said to have raided the site in hopes of stealing equipment, and took hostages in the process. In a statement issued by the army, after destroying and stealing some equipment, the gun men set fire to the site. 

In a second statement, later that evening, gunmen attacked a road checkpoint in the San region and killed 3 civilians.

No group has taken responsibility for any of attacks.

The kidnapped individuals are employees of Chinese construction company, Covec and Mauritanian road-building company ATTM. They had been developing the site under protection from a private security firm.

The kidnapping of foreign nationals is a common tactic used by militants to obtain large ransoms for their release.

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