Malian city of Gao hit by early morning mortar shells in 1st attack in months

A military spokesman says the northern Malian city of Gao has come under attack for the first time in months.

Hubert de Quievrecourt, spokesman for the French-led Operation Serval, said Monday that at least five mortar shells hit the town around 6:30 a.m.

He said at least one Malian soldier was wounded in the violence and two of the shells landed in residential areas.

He declined to speculate on who may have been responsible, though the city was under the hands of al-Qaida-linked militants until the French-led operation ousted them from Gao earlier this year.

In the early weeks after their ouster, the militants launched a series of suicide bomb attacks on Gao, though the city has been relatively peaceful over the last seven months.