As many as 40 civilians were killed this week in Mali by members of an Islamic State (IS)-linked organization in the northern part of the country that has been turned into a hotbed of jihadist clashes, sources told AFP.
“We have at least forty civilians killed in three locations” on the outskirts of Tessi, a few dozen kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso and Niger, a political official in the area told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He clarified that this report is still temporary, as the information arrives slowly and in sections from the isolated and dangerous zone.
“These were civilians who were accused by one organization of collaborating with another” group of jihadists, according to the same source.
Two people from Tessi, who have settled in Gao and Bamako respectively, confirmed the scale of the massacres after talking to survivors.
Musa Ag Asaratuman, a spokesman for the paramilitary group, gave a similar account.
These events took place in the so-called transnational border region, one of the hotbeds of violence that shakes the Sahel. The Islamic State in the Sahara (ISS) and the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (UIM), an alliance of organizations belonging to the al Qaeda nebula, operate there. In addition to attacking the Mali army and foreign forces, they have been involved since 2020 in a war between them for control of the territory.
Tessi, a rural community in Gao Prefecture, has been the scene of jihadist fighting in recent weeks.
However, the clashes between the jihadists are shown in the media. Mali authorities, where a coup took place in August 2020, have not made any announcement about the events in Tessi.
The telephone network in the area has been cut off for years, making it difficult to gather information. He became even more isolated when the road connecting Tesi with Ansongo, the largest city in the region, was cut off at the height of the Niger River in 2020, when jihadists set fire to a ferry connecting the two banks.
Aid agencies often point out that civilians in Mali are paying the heaviest price for the chaos that has prevailed in Mali since 2012.
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