Attacks on central Mali village of Fulani herders on Sunday left at least 23 people dead, a local mayor reported on Monday. Some 300 people were missing following the attacks.
According to Reuters, some armed men attacked two Fulani communities on Sunday evening. Mali has long been reeling through a string of deadly assaults between herders and ethnic Dogon farmers who have long fought over land and resources.
“During Sunday, and overnight, in the villages of Bidi, Sankoro, and Saran, armed men attacked civilians, killing 23 of them,” Cheick Harouna Sankare, mayor of the neighboring town of Ouenkoro, told AFP. “The situation is serious, the army needs to act to reassure the population.”
Blaming the attack on Dogon hunters, Harouna said after raiding the village of Saran, the attackers went on to Bidi, but people had already fled.
“Since they didn’t find anybody [in Bidi], they burned the village and the houses and attacked the cattle,” the mayor added.
He said that an emergency meeting had been called. Other local officials confirmed the attack but did not share the number of casualties.
The violence between the rival communities Fulani herders and Dogon farmers has escalated this year. In March, suspected Dogon militiamen killed more than 150 Fulani in central Mali in one of the most violent attacks in the country’s recent history. Raids on Dogon villages in June killed over 40 people.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s government has vowed to disarm the militias but has not been successful in doing so.
In other parts of central Mali, a vehicle carrying 12 civilians including a baby struck in a landmine. Local mayor Issiaka Ganame confirmed to Reuters that none of the passengers survived. While it remains unclear who laid the mine, jihadist groups have been known to deploy this kind of ordnance in the region.
