BAMAKO, Mali — At the least 18 folks have been killed in an airstrike in northern Mali, a separatist group mentioned. The military mentioned it had mounted an assault focusing on armed militants.
The Collective for the Defence of the Rights of the Azawad Folks, which is a part of a Tuareg separatist coalition, mentioned Monday the Malian military bombed a market 50 km (30 miles) north of Lerneb, within the Timbuktu area.
Seven folks had been additionally injured within the strike on Sunday, the group mentioned in a press release, denouncing a “barbaric act from one other age” and a “flagrant human rights violation.”
Mali’s military mentioned Monday in a press release on X it carried out air strikes on a “refuge” in the identical space cited by the separatist group, killing 11 “terrorists.”
Mali, together with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for greater than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed teams, together with some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
Following navy coups in all three nations in recent times, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary models for safety help as a substitute.
Since seizing energy in 2021, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to curb violence in central and northern Mali, whereas the military has has been accused of focusing on civilians.
Final month, the Entrance for the Liberation of Azawad, the coalition of Tuareg separatist teams, accused the Malian military and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of “coldly executing” not less than 24 folks in northern Mali.
Final yr, the rights group Human Rights Watch mentioned in a report the military and Russian mercenaries killed not less than 32 civilians, together with seven in a drone strike, kidnapped 4 others, and burned not less than 100 houses in cities and villages in central and northern Mali between Could and December.
