Dozens of civilians killed in central Mali village attacks

Dozens of civilians have been killed and others wounded in Mali’s volatile centre when unidentified armed men on motorbikes attacked ethnic Dogon farming villages, according to local officials.

The attackers targeted four villages on Wednesday in Mopti region, which has seen dozens of tit-for-tat ethnic massacres as well as raids by fighters of armed groups over the past few years.

Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of the commune of Bankass, released a list of victims on Thursday that put the death toll at 32.

Other reports put the death toll to at least 30.

“Quite a lot of armed men attacked the village [of Gouari], firing at people. Fifteen bodies were buried this morning. There are also wounded,” a local official was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency earlier on Thursday, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place in an area some 30km (19 miles) from the border with Burkina Faso.

A spokesman for the Malian army could not be reached for comment. The army has been criticised by rights groups and residents for failing to protect civilians in central Mali.

Mali is struggling to contain a multilayered and complex conflict that erupted in 2012 when ethnic Taureg separatists, allied with fighters from an al-Qaeda offshoot, launched a rebellion that took control of the country’s north.

Source: MSN