at least 30 people killed in an attack in the center of the country

At least 30 people were killed in the attack on a transport vehicle near Bandiagara (Mali) on Friday (December 3rd). “The civilians were in a transport vehicle. The passengers were machine-gunned and the vehicle was set on fire.”local authorities in the Mopti region, who requested anonymity, told AFP. “The state sent security forces there.” An elected official from the locality of Bandiagara confirmed this assessment and specified that among the victims, there are “children and women” as well as missing persons.

At this stage, the attack has not been claimed by any of the many armed groups raging in the country. 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.