Fighting during an insurgent attack on an army base in Mali's restive south killed 15 soldiers and 17 rebels, the Defense Ministry said Friday. A group of armed men battled soldiers stationed at a military encampment in the far northern town of Abeibara on Wednesday before being pushed back, according to an earlier ministry statement. Ethnic Tuareg rebels active in the area claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack but said in a statement that only one of their fighters had died in the eight hours of fighting and that they had captured about 60 soldiers, along with weapons and several army vehicles.