An attack on a community in central Mali claimed the lives of around 20 people

According to a local official on Monday, gunmen attacked a village in the Mopti region of central Mali on Sunday, killing 26 people. The area is plagued by insurgencies.

The attack was directed at a village in the Circle of Bankass, one of the many regions in the north and center of Mali where violent insurgencies are being carried out by jihadist organizations associated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

On Sunday night, armed attackers started shooting at farmers in their fields, according to Bankass Mayor Moulaye Guindo over the phone.

Guindo lamented the increasing level of insecurity in the West African nation, saying that soldiers stationed there had not arrived in the village until after the attack.

When contacted for comment, the army remained silent.

Since taking root in Mali as a result of the Tuareg revolt in 2012, the insurgency in the Sahel region south of the Sahara has gained momentum.

Jihadists have expanded into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, and more lately, into the north of coastal nations like Togo, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, despite expensive military setbacks.

Millions more have been displaced, and thousands have died. A similar attack on a community in Bankass at the beginning of July claimed almost 40 lives, and another attack at the end of May claimed about 20.

Since 2020, there have been two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso, and one in Niger as a result of the authorities’ failure to protect citizens.

Since then, juntas have abandoned their conventional Western friends in favor of Russian assistance in combating the gangs.