Twelve people die in a terrorist attack in Mali

28 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least twelve people have died and another three have been injured after an attack by an armed terrorist group in the village of Kani Bonzon, in the Bandiagara region of Mali.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which has reported the incident indicating that the armed men also burned several houses, has condemned the attack and reaffirmed its commitment to continue supporting the implementation of the national strategy for the stabilization in the country.

Likewise, the mission, together with the local authorities, has taken the necessary measures to initiate an investigation into the event, which took place last Thursday, “as part of its mandate to promote and protect Human Rights”, as reflected in a release.

The spokesman for the General Secretariat of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, recalled that in this region, in Bandiagara, is where three ‘blue helmets’ died last week due to a bomb explosion when a convoy passed by.

The UN indicated in January that, for the ninth consecutive year, MINUSMA had been the peacekeeping mission with the most fatalities in 2022, with fourteen ‘blue helmets’ killed.

Mali and the rest of the countries of the Sahel have experienced an upsurge in violence in recent years, both by groups linked to the branches of the terrorist organizations Al Qaeda and the Islamic State that operate in the region, as well as by inter-community groups.