(Antananarivo) The first arrests took place after the massacre of 32 people in a village in Madagascar by cattle rustlers last week, we learned from the gendarmerie on Monday.
Posted yesterday at 3:31 p.m.
The bandits burned to death 32 people, including women and 15 children, on Friday by setting fire to homes in the village of Ambolotarakely, about 75 kilometers north of the capital Antananarivo.
According to a source within the local gendarmerie, five people suspected of being involved in the killings were arrested on Monday but the hunt continues, with the deployment of military helicopters and ground troops to find those responsible.
“It is an act of inadmissible violence, and it must be sanctioned very severely”, declared the Minister of Defense, General Richard Rakotonirina. “We are actively looking for the authors”.
Police blamed the massacre on cattle rustlers, known as dahalos, although the motives are still unclear.
According to the president of the Independent National Commission for Human Rights (CNIDH), Seth Andriamarohasina, security forces were patrolling the village, which is on a small hill about 10 hours walk from the nearest police station. .
“It’s a ghost town now, all the inhabitants have left for fear of the dahalos,” Andriamarohasina, who visited the region on Sunday, told AFP.
Several sources have speculated that a land dispute may have triggered the violence.
“It is a premeditated act, according to what the first elements of the preliminary investigation reveal,” a source in the Ministry of Defense told AFP.