Around 40 people were killed by unidentified armed men in an attack on a village in central Mali, local officials reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday in Djiguibombo, a village in the Mopti region that has been a hotspot for jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State for over a decade.
Bankass Mayor Moulaye Guindo described the incident as a grave attack, noting that armed men had surrounded the village and fired upon its residents during a phone interview.
He couldn’t confirm the death toll, but two local officials, speaking anonymously, estimated around 40 fatalities.
“It was carnage; they surrounded the village during a wedding. There was panic, some managed to escape, but many, mostly men, were killed,” one official reported.
The attackers were not identified, and no group has claimed responsibility yet.
The army spokesperson could not be reached for comment. In West Africa’s central Sahel region, violence has surged due to ongoing insurgencies originating in Mali and spreading to Burkina Faso and Niger.
This has resulted in thousands of deaths and displaced millions.
The instability has also triggered two coups in Mali and one each in Burkina Faso and Niger since 2020.