Attack in central Mali claims over 100 lives – Reports

MALI

Reports indicate that scores of people have been killed in central Mali in what is believed to be a terrorist attack. The local news portal, Mali Jet, said in its report that the incident happened in the night of Sunday to Monday in town of Sobanou.

Some international news outlets, including the BBC and French broadcaster RFI, have put the death toll at over 100.

This will be the second such incident in the space of two months. The first such occurred in March and led to the resignation of the then government and the formation of a new one in May.

“I address to the Malian people all the solidarity of Senegal following the terrible killings perpetrated in Sobane-Kou. Let us remain United to end this intolerable violence,” Senegal president Macky Sall wrote on Twitter in a swift reaction to the incident.

“We have 95 civilians killed at the moment, the bodies are charred, we continue to search for bodies,” a district official is quoted to have said. The toll means about a third of the inhabitants of the place had been killed.

There are about 300 inhabitants in the area according to reports. “It’s a village that has been almost emptied,” said a Malian security source on site, who alsi confirmed a provisional toll of 95 killed.

Violence between members of the Dogon ethnic group, mainly farmers, and Fulani, traditionally pastoralists, have killed hundreds of people since the beginning of the year in Mali.