Mali’s northern border with Algeria has seen panic after hundreds of gold miners fled to Algerian territory following airstrikes by Malian army drones targeting separatist groups.
This mass escape comes just one day after an airstrike targeted a gathering of armed groups, killing more than 50 people near the Tinzaouaten area, including workers.
Human rights and Azawad community sources reported that the bombing was a retaliatory response by the Malian army after the defeat of its forces at the hands of fighters from the Strategic Framework for the Defense of the Azawad People earlier this week, where clashes in Tinzaouaten resulted in the killing and wounding of dozens of Malian army and Wagner members.
Ayoub Ag Shamed, spokesman for the Imohag Organization for Justice and Transparency, said that drones launched three airstrikes on the border town of Samga with Algeria and Niger.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the bombing resulted in the immediate death of more than 50 people and resulted in the injury of a large number of others seriously.
Given the absence of medical facilities and health services in this remote area, the death toll and the injured are likely to rise, amid fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Ag Shamed indicated that most of the dead belong to the Hausa ethnic group from Niger and some other African nationalities.
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