At least 30 people were killed on Friday in the attack by suspected jihadists on a transport vehicle near Bandiagara in the Mopti region in the center of the country, local officials told AFP. An elected official from the locality of Bandiagara confirmed this assessment and specified that among the victims, there are “children and women and the missing”.
The attack was not claimed by any of the many armed groups plaguing the country.
Increased terrorism since 2012
“At least 30 Malian civilians were killed by terrorists near Bandiagara on Friday. The civilians were in a transport vehicle. The passengers were machine-gunned and the vehicle was burnt. The state sent security forces there, ”local authorities in Mopti told AFP who requested anonymity.
Mali has been delivered since 2012 to the actions of groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, as well as violence of all kinds perpetrated by self-proclaimed self-defense militias and bandits. The regular forces are themselves accused of abuses. The violence that started in the north in 2012 spread to the center, to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. They have caused thousands of civilian and military deaths, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people, despite the deployment of UN, French and African forces.
The seizure of power in Bamako by the military following a putsch in 2020 has not stopped the spiral of violence.
