Two terrorist attacks hit Mali this Thursday, killing at least 64 victims. The government announced a three-day national mourning starting Friday.
Sixty-four people (49 civilians and 15 soldiers) died this Thursday in two terrorist attacks which targeted a river passenger transport boat and an army base in the north of Mali, in an area subject to a number of weeks of strong pressure from armed groups fighting the central State.
The two separate attacks targeted “the Timbuktu boat” on the Niger River and “the army position” in Bamba, in the Gao region (north), with “a provisional toll of 49 civilians and 15 soldiers killed”, according to a government statement.
The Bamba attack was claimed Thursday by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM or Jnim according to the Arabic acronym), a jihadist alliance affiliated with Al-Qaeda, on the Al-Zallaqa propaganda platform, according to SITE, American NGO specializing in monitoring radical groups.
Fifty terrorists neutralized
The two attacks were “claimed” by the GSIM, the government said in its press release according to which the assault on the boat also caused “injuries as well as material damage”. The army’s response made it possible to “neutralize around fifty terrorists”, according to the same source.
The boat, from the Malian navigation company (Comanav, public), was attacked in the Gourma-Rharous sector, between Timbuktu and Gao, the Malian army had clarified earlier on social networks.
This attack came a few weeks after the GSIM announced, at the beginning of August, to impose a blockade on Timbuktu which coincides with the ongoing security reconfiguration around “the city of 333 saints” listed as a world heritage site.
The UN mission, pushed from Mali by the ruling junta, has just left two camps near Timbuktu, Ber and Goundam, transferred to the Malian authorities. This takeover by the Malian state gave rise to battles with jihadists, but also clashes with ex-Tuareg rebels.
Source: BFM TV
