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About 100 Malians killed in attack on Dogon village

Monday, 10 June 2019 1:40 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 10 June 2019 1:45 PM ]

A Fulani herder leads his cattle to the landfill next to the Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp in Faladie, where nearly 800 IDPs have found refuge after fleeing inter-communal violence in central Mali, on May 14, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

At least 95 people were killed in an overnight attack on an ethnic Dogon village in central Mali, local officials said on Monday, the latest bout of ethnic violence fueling the country's security crisis.

Fighting between Dogon hunters and Fulani herders has killed hundreds since January, including a March attack in which gunmen killed more than 150 Dogon, one of the worst acts of violence in the West African country's recent history.

Sunday's attack took place in the Sangha district, where Fulanis from the neighboring Bankass district descended on a Dogon village after dark, Bankass mayor Moulaye Guindo told Reuters on Monday.

"Armed men, apparently Fulanis, fired at the population and burnt the village," said Siriam Kanoute, an official for the nearby town of Bandiagara.

He said the current death toll of 95 would likely rise as more bodies were being found.

Violence between Fulani and rival communities has compounded an already dire security situation in Mali's semi-arid and desert regions, which are used as a base by militant groups with ties to al-Qaeda and Daesh.

(Source: Reuters)

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