Hommam Al Nassim 
The mayor of Bankass in Mali announced yesterday, Sunday, that 20 civilians were killed in an attack that took place last Saturday on a village in the Mopti region in the center of the country.
According to the mayor, the attack targeted a village in the Bankass District, an area suffering from the activity of extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
He explained that unidentified gunmen attacked the villagers as they were heading to work in the fields, noting that the authorities counted 19 dead the day before yesterday, but the final number exceeded 20.
Three village residents told Agence France-Presse that “jihadists” opened fire on villagers three kilometers from Diyalasago, noting that the initial toll included 18 dead and 21 wounded
Local officials in the village of Bandiagara, sixty kilometers from Diyalasago, stated that all the victims were displaced people residing in Diyalasago, and called on the authorities to ensure the protection of the population.
This attack is the latest in a series of bloody attacks that Mali has witnessed since the start of the insurgency by militant groups in 2012.
In June 2022, Diylassago witnessed one of the worst massacres in Mali’s modern history, with more than 130 civilians killed in a similar attack.
During the period from October to December 2022, more than 2,001 people were affected by violence, including more than 370 abductees, and 56% of recorded violations resulted from acts of violence carried out by extremist groups, and the number of civilian deaths and injuries doubled.
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