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Two attacks in central Mali claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists killed more than 30 people, local, security and administrative sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday.
A youth official said at least 35 people were killed Wednesday in near-simultaneous attacks on the villages of Korikori and Gomossogou.
A security source and an administrative source also reported more than 30 deaths in the attacks, which were claimed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, or JNIM.
WAMAPS, a group of West African journalists specializing in Sahel security, said the provisional death toll was more than 50 villagers, with several people still missing.
“Villages have been looted and some properties set on fire,” WAMAPS said.
The Malian army said Thursday it had carried out “a targeted operation against terrorist armed groups” in the area.
It said around a dozen fighters were “neutralized,” but did not provide further details.
The attacks came less than two weeks after a large-scale, coordinated offensive by terrorists and separatists against junta positions, pushing Mali into a new security crisis.
The April 25-26 assaults by JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, an ethnic Tuareg separatist movement, targeted strategic towns, including Kidal in the desert north and Kati, a garrison town near the capital Bamako.
Defense Minister Sadio Camara, the 47-year-old architect of Mali’s military alliance with Russia, was killed by a car bomb at his residence.
Kidal and other towns and villages in the north were captured and are now under the control of the FLA and terrorists, who have since imposed a blockade on Bamako.
On Wednesday, security, legal and family sources told AFP that several opposition figures and military personnel had been detained or abducted following the attacks.
The military prosecutor’s office said last week it had “solid evidence” of the “complicity” of some members of the military, accusing them of helping with the “planning, coordination and execution” of the attacks.
A political official, speaking anonymously for security reasons, said the arrests and abductions appeared to be a witch hunt.
“Everything suggests that these events are being used as an opportunity to carry out a purge within the political opposition and the army,” the official told AFP.
Mali has faced a deep security crisis since 2012, driven by violence from fighters affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh, as well as local criminal gangs and pro-independence groups.
On April 30, JNIM called for a “common front” to “put an end to the junta” and bring about a peaceful and inclusive transition.
Mali has been under military rule since back-to-back coups in 2020.
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