More than twenty people killed in central Mali

(Patria) - Armed attackers killed at least 21 civilians on Friday in an attack on a village in the Mopti region of central Mali, two local sources said on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Unidentified attackers carried out the attack in the afternoon, targeting the village of Yarou near the town of Bandiagara, the sources said, wishing to remain anonymous.

"It was a real massacre, armed men stormed the village and shot at people. The number of dead and wounded is between 20 and 30," one of the sources said by phone. Another source said the reported death toll was 21 and included women, while 11 others were wounded.

Reuters was unable to independently verify their claims. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The West African nation has been battling a violent insurgency linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS that has taken root in its arid north following a Tuareg separatist rebellion in 2012.

Militants have since spread to other countries in the Sahel region south of the Sahara, seizing territory, killing thousands and displacing millions in the process.

Frustration over growing insecurity has fueled two military coups in Mali since August 2020. The junta has burned bridges with traditional Western allies and turned to Russian mercenaries. Its unexpected demand in June for the departure of UN peacekeepers has raised fears that the country could sink deeper into chaos, Reuters concludes.

We remind you that Mali is located in an unstable neighborhood and borders, among others, Niger, which has faced a military coup in recent weeks in which President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened Niger with military intervention if it does not return Bazoum to power.

Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso, has rejected the call for intervention and said an attack on Niger would be considered an attack on their own country.