BAMAKO (Reuters) – Gunmen killed 26 people in an attack on a village in central Mali’s insurgent-hit Mopti region on Sunday, a local official said on Monday.
The attack targeted a village in the Circle of Bankass, one of several areas in Mali’s north and centre where jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are waging a violent insurgency.
Armed assailants opened fire on villagers working their fields on Sunday evening, Bankass Mayor Moulaye Guindo said via telephone.
Soldiers deployed to the area only reached the village after the attack, Guindo said, deploring worsening insecurity in the West African country.
The army did not respond to a request for comment.
The insurgency in the Sahel region south of the Sahara has gained momentum since it took root in Mali on the back of a 2012 Tuareg rebellion.
Despite costly military pushbacks, jihadists have spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, and more recently into the north of coastal countries such as Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced. Around 40 people died in a similar attack on a village in Bankass at the start of July and over 20 in another attack at the end of May.
Authorities’ failure to protect civilians contributed to two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in Niger since 2020.
Juntas have since turned their backs to traditional Western allies and sought Russian support for fighting the groups.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Christina Fincher)
