The Government in Mali announced that insurgents have killed about 130 civilians in three neighbouring towns in Mali.
Authorities say a group called Macina Katiba which is affiliated to al-Qaeda perpetrated the attacks which took place over the weekend in Diallassagou and two other localities in central Mali’s Mopti region.
Meanwhile, in a separate insurgent attack on saturday near the city of Gao, Authorities say about 20 civilians were killed.
Mali has been battling insurgency and militants attacks over the years with about thousands of people dying and many displaced.
Recall, News Central on Monday reported a UN peacekeeper was killed by a mine while on patrol in restive northern Mali on Sunday.
In August 2020 and May 2021, Mali, a poor and landlocked country in the Sahel, experienced military coups.
Since 2012, when separatist and Islamist insurgencies erupted in the north, the political crisis has been accompanied by a significant security crisis.
To combat the danger of insurgency that has expanded to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, the country is now ruled by a junta that has turned away from France and its allies and turned to Russia.
The violence has left thousands of civilians and soldiers dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.