BAMAKO (AFP) - Malian security forces have killed around 20 suspected Al-Qaeda followers in a raid near the Algerian border targeting a cell thought to have executed a British hostage, security sources said. Tuesdays attack in Malis northern region was the first time the army specifically targeted Al-Qaeda members on Malian turf. During the raid, government soldiers captured the base, a security source said, adding: We counted 26 of the enemy killed. Some were buried by their own people in a common grave before they fled. Its the group of (Abdelhamid) Abou Zeid, the source said, adding: We will continue to hunt them down.An independent source in the north confirmed the raid but put the toll at 16. The attack targeted Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which claims close ties to Al-Qaeda and emerged out of an Algerian radical group. It has sought to extend its range into nations on the southern edge of the Sahara and has claimed several attacks in the region. Two weeks ago sources in the Malian Interior Ministry said they would start a ruthless battle against terrorist groups. The hardened stance came just several days after US-based monitoring group SITE Intelligence said Al-Qaeda north African branch posted an online statement saying it killed British hostage Edwin Dyer on May 31. The execution marked the first time that Al-Qaedas north African branch had killed a Western hostage, observers said. Mali reacted by announcing that cross-border patrols in conjunction with security personnel from neighbouring states, especially along the Algerian frontier, would be stepped up. At the time Bamako officials complained of feeling somewhat trapped as Al-Qaeda takes hostages kidnapped in other countries across a desert zone that also borders Mali. When they arrive in Mali the Western countries the hostages hail from urge Mali not to use force but want them to negotiate, sources said.