(Bamako) At least four people were killed in the attack on an official Malian delegation some 400 km north of Bamako, near the Mauritanian border, a region plagued by jihadist attacks, AFP said on Wednesday. a local elected official, administrative officials and security sources.
The victims have not yet been officially identified by the authorities and gray areas remain on the nature of the delegation which came to prospect for boreholes for the local populations about forty kilometers from the city of Nara, not far from the Wagadou forest, known to shelter jihadists.
“An official delegation was indeed attacked. There are at least four dead and missing. The tension is still high there,” said an administrative official in Nara on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. He added that “the mission did not have an adequate escort”.
A source from the governorate also gave this version, assuring that many soldiers had arrived in Nara as reinforcements.
“The jihadists attacked a delegation from the Presidency of the Republic on Wednesday. There are four dead and missing. The search is continuing, ”also said a local elected official, who underlined that the security situation on the spot is deteriorating day by day.
Contacted by AFP, the presidency of the Republic in Mali did not wish to react for the moment.
A military official gave AFP a death toll of at least four, including two completely charred and unidentified and at least two missing. The toll of four dead and a burnt-out vehicle was also given by a police source.
Mali has been plagued by jihadist spread and violence of all kinds since the outbreak of insurgencies in the north of the country in 2012. The violence has spread to the center of the country and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. She is heading south.
The security turmoil goes hand in hand with a deep humanitarian and political crisis. Mali has been the scene of two military coups since 2020 and is ruled by a junta.
