Seven dead as gunmen attack two villages in Mali

At least seven people were killed by gunmen on motorcycles separate attacks on two villages in central Mali, an area plagued by jihadist attacks and intercommunal violence, a local mayor said Wednesday.

The victims of Tuesday’s raids were farmers from the Dogon community who were working their fields at the time, said Ali Dolo, mayor of the rural Sangha area which covers the villages.

He told AFP that the assailants were the same men who have attacked other villages in past months.

At least four other people were killed in June and another dozen in April in similar attacks in the Sangha area, which lies about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the town of Bandiagara.

Central Mali has witnessed a surge in violence since 2015 linked to an Islamist insurgency and also deadly clashes between the ethnic communities of Fulani, nomadic herders, and Dogon traditional hunters.

AFP