In Mali, at least twenty dead in attacks attributed to jihadists in the center of the country

At least twenty people were killed on Friday, December 20, in attacks on several villages in central Mali plagued by abuses by jihadist groups, an association leader, a local elected official and a security source told Agence France. -Press (AFP), Saturday December 21. Last weekend, at least seven people had already been killed in an attack in the center.

“Six villages in the Bandiagara region were attacked yesterday [vendredi] by jihadists. Granaries were burned, people fled. There are also around twenty deaths”a local elected official told the news agency on condition of anonymity. “Five villages in the Bandiagara region were attacked on Friday. There are 21 dead and many injured”a Malian security source told AFP. “These terrorist attacks aim to scare populations away to create chaos”he added.

Bocary Guindo, a leader of an association which brings together young Dogon people, assured on social networks that the toll was more than 20 dead after attacks in the localities of Bourari (15 dead), Madina (2), Banguel Toupè Singuel (2), Gaza (5). Other villages like Massasegué and Sonfounou were burned, he said.

Increase in violence

Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by the actions of groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization and the violence of community and villainous groups. In September, jihadists attacked the gendarmerie school before dawn and stormed the Bamako military airport, an attack not seen in the Malian capital since 2016. Although no official report was given, security sources reported more than 75 dead and more than 250 injured.

Since seizing power in coups in 2020 and 2021, the military has broken the old alliance with former dominant power France and then turned militarily and politically toward Russia.

The UN stabilization mission in Mali (Minusma) also ended in 2023, at the urging of the junta. Since then, the “atrocities” committed against civilians by the Malian army and its Russian ally, as well as by jihadists, continued, denounced the NGO Human Rights Watch around ten days ago. These attacks undermine the rhetoric of the junta in power since 2020, which claims that its strategy of rupture, its new foreign partnerships and an increased military effort have made it possible to reverse the trend against the jihadists.