LAGOS (AFP) - Two soldiers were killed and five others injured Saturday in an explosion in Okene city in Nigeria’s central Kogi state, an army spokesman said, adding that they were part of the contingent set to be deployed to Mali. “We lost two soldiers while five others were wounded when the IED (improvised explosive device) planted on their route went off and hit their convoy,” Major General Bola Koleoso told AFP. Koleoso said that the soldiers were among the troops being prepared for deployment in Mali as part of an African force to help the country retake its Fighters-controlled north.