At least 134 Fulani herdsman in central Mali village have been killed as armed men poured rages of fires randomly at civilians, according to local authorities.
The assaults at the Village of Ogossagou and Welingara is considered as one of deadliest attacks in the country plagued by worsening ethnic violence and rise of armed groups so-called Jihadist.
“We are provisionally at 134 bodies recovered by the gendarmes,” Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby town of Bankass, told Reuters by telephone from Ogossagou.
According to Guindo, another nearby Fulani village of Welingara had been under attack, causing “a number” causalities and possibly deaths, but he did not provide further details.
Pregnant women, children and elderly people are reported death among the victims, local security official said.
It comes at a time when UN Security Council mission visited Mali in their bid for seeking solutions to violence that killed hundreds of civilians last year, and is spreading wings across West Africa’s Sahel region, sources said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said in a tweet it condemns the “unspeakable” attacks against civilians and called on the Malian authorities to investigate the issue.
“@antonioguterres is shocked and outraged by reports that at least 134 civilians were killed in an attack this morning in central Mali,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres’s spokesperson in a tweet. “He calls on the authorities to redouble their efforts to return peace and stability to central Mali.”
.@antonioguterres is shocked and outraged by reports that at least 134 civilians were killed in an attack this morning in central Mali. He calls on the authorities to redouble their efforts to return peace and stability to central Mali. Full statement: https://t.co/p3BMRZEZXt
— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) March 24, 2019
The victims were shot or hacked to death with machetes, said a security source. The district has been the scene of frequent inter-communal violence, CGTN wrote.
Sources said attacks appeared to be in retaliation against an al-Qaeda affiliate who claimed responsibility for Friday’s raid that killed 23 soldiers.
Jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL have exploited ethnic rivalries in Mali and its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger to boost recruitment and render vast swaths of territory virtually ungovernable.
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