About 100 Malians killed in attack on Dogon village

[Ghost Dog]

BAMAKO (Reuters) - 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 fuelling 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 neighbouring 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...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mali-security/about-100-malians-killed-in-attack-on-dogon-village-idUKKCN1TB1GS?il=0

[Ghost Dog]

1. More from France24

... It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.

Members of the Dogon and Fulani groups often clash over access to land and water. The Dogon also accuse Fulanis of having ties to local jihadist groups, while Fulanis claim that Mali’s army has armed Dogon hunters to attack them.

Earlier this year, the massacre of more than 150 Fulani villagers, including women and children, prompted Mali’s government to sack senior military officials and dissolve a militia composed of Dogon hunters.

Weeks later, the entire government resigned over its failure to disarm militias and beat back Islamist militants, who continue to stage attacks six years after France helped Malian forces stave off a jihadist insurgency in the country's restive north...

https://www.france24.com/en/20190610-scores-killed-attack-dogon-village-central-mali-sobane

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Mali attack: gunmen on motorbikes kill at least 41 people in two villages

Unidentified gunmen on motorbikes attacked two villages in central Mali, killing at least 41 people in a part of the country where ethnic reprisal attacks have surged in recent months, a local mayor said on Tuesday.

The attacks on Monday evening on the villages of Yoro and Gangafani 2 compound a dire security situation in central Mali, where ethnic militias regularly slaughter civilians from rival groups and Islamist militants are also active.

The victims of Monday’s raids were mostly ethnic Dogons, said Issiaka Ganame, the mayor of Yoro, where 24 people were killed. Another 17 died in Gangafani 2.

“About 100 unidentified armed men circulating on motos all of a sudden invaded Yoro and fired on the population,” Ganame told Reuters. “Then they descended on the village of Gangafani 2, which is about 15km (9 miles) away.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/18/mali-attack-shooting-yoro-gangafani-2-villages-latest