Seventeen people, including five traditional dozo hunters, were killed last weekend near Bandiagara, in central Mali, in two attacks attributed to “ terrorists “, the region’s governorate said on Monday August 7.
On Saturday, a first attack took place in the commune of Bodio, leaving 15 people dead and two wounded, including “ three hunters “. The following day, a motorcycle carrying “ two hunters ” hit a mine near the same village. “ The two occupants died immediately,” says the press release.
The jihadist violence that began in northern Mali in 2012 spread to the center in 2015 with the installation of the Macina Katiba, led by Fulani preacher Amadou Kouffa and affiliated with al-Qaeda. In response to the proliferation of violence, self-defense groups have sprung up. The best known of these is the Dogon militia, Dan Nan Ambassagou, made up of “ traditional hunters ” and involved in this weekend’s attacks.
Last Thursday, several Malian soldiers were killed in an ambush by jihadists affiliated to the Islamic State group in the north-east of the country, near the Ménaka region. They were escorting trucks bound for Niger, a neighboring country plagued by the spread of jihadism and plunged into a major crisis since a military coup, according to military and police sources.
Around 20 people were also killed on Sunday in Burkina Faso in an attack by suspected jihadists in Nohao, near the town of Bittou, in the Centre-Est region bordering Togo, according to security and local sources. “ The attack left around twenty people dead, mainly shopkeepers “a security source said, while a shopkeeper reported “ 25 people killed “. Another shopkeeper reported “ a dozen injured “. Last Thursday, a previous attack had targeted “ several dozen vehicles carrying goods “.
Find out more at https://www.lunion.fr/id509850/article/2023-08-07/les-jihadistes-font-17-morts-au-mali-une-vingtaine-au-burkina-faso
