Members of the Katiba Macina Islamist group attacked at least three villages in the rural Bankass community in Mali’s central Mopti district overnight between Saturday and Sunday, the government said in a statement. The total number of dead is 132 civilians and some of the perpetrators have been identified, he added. Mali is fighting to quell an Islamist insurgency that has taken root since the 2012 coup and has since spread from the arid north of the West African country. Thousands have died and millions have been displaced across the Sahel. Some of the groups have links to al Qaeda and ISIS. The uprising has also spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger despite international efforts by the French leadership to end it. France announced in February that it would withdraw troops deployed in Mali almost a decade ago, as relations with the military junta that came to power after the August 2020 coup deteriorated earlier this year.
