BAMAKO, Mali — At least 26 people were killed after an armed group attacked a village in Mali’s central region near the border with Burkina Faso, a government official said on Monday, the latest violent attack in the conflict-affected region.
The attackers attacked the villagers while most were working on their farmland in the village of Dembo on Sunday afternoon, said Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the town of Bankass, where Dembo is located.
These attacks are becoming more frequent in central Mali as the country’s military junta It is also fighting to contain violence in the northern region.
No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, but blame quickly fell on JNIM, an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group that often attacks villagers in the region in similar ways, including in July when Rebels attacked a wedding ceremony. and killed at least 21 people.
Armed violence in central and northern Mali has raged for more than a decade. Extremist rebels who were once ousted from power in northern cities with the help of recently expelled French troops They have regrouped and launched attacks on remote villages and security forces.
A 2015 peace agreement with ethnic Tuareg rebels active in the north has also collapsed, deepening the security crisis.
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