Clashes between Tuareg and Fulani herdsmen, often over land and watering points, have killed dozens of civilians this year

 (Updates Burkinabe soldier death toll to eight)

BAMAKO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - At least 15 Tuaregs were killed when armed men from a rival ethnic group attacked their village in northern Mali, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Clashes between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen, often over land and watering points, have killed dozens of civilians this year. </s> BAMAKO (Reuters) - At least 15 Tuaregs were killed when armed men from a rival ethnic group attacked their village in northern Mali, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Clashes between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen, often over land and watering points, have killed dozens of civilians this year.

That has compounded an already dire security situation in the country’s north, where attacks by jihadist groups are common.

Tuesday’s raid on a remote desert village in the Menaka region near the border with Niger killed 16 people, Bajan Ag Hamatou, a member of parliament from the area, told Reuters.

“Armed men entered a Tuareg campsite and killed all the men they found,” Hamatou said. “They were attacked by their Fulani brothers.”

The mayor of the nearby town of Menaka, Nanout Kotia, said the attack killed 15 or 16 Tuaregs and appeared to have been motivated by inter-ethnic tensions.

Islamist militants seized Mali’s desert north in 2012. French forces intervened the following year to wrest back control, but fighters with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have since regrouped.

They have tapped into the ethnic rivalries to recruit new members and their frequent attacks in Mali and nearby countries have alarmed Western powers.

In the north of neighboring Burkina Faso, eight soldiers were killed on Wednesday when their vehicle hit a land mine, a security source told Reuters. The area, which borders Mali, has seen a sharp increase in such attacks in recent months. </s> BAMAKO (Reuters) - At least 15 Tuaregs were killed when armed men from a rival tribe attacked their village in northern Mali, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Clashes between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen, generally over land and watering points, have killed dozens of civilians this year.

That has compounded an already dire security situation in the country’s north, where attacks by jihadist groups are common.

Tuesday’s raid on a remote desert village in the Menaka region near the border with Niger killed 16 people, Bajan Ag Hamatou, a member of parliament from the area, told Reuters.

“Armed men entered a Tuareg campsite and killed all the men they found,” Hamatou said. “They were attacked by their Fulani brothers.”

The mayor of the nearby town of Menaka, Nanout Kotia, said the attack killed 15 or 16 Tuaregs and appeared to have been motivated by inter-ethnic tensions.

Islamist militants seized Mali’s desert north in 2012. French forces intervened the following year to wrest back control, but fighters with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have since regrouped.

They have tapped into the ethnic rivalries to recruit new members and their frequent attacks in Mali and neighbouring countries have alarmed Western powers.

An armoured vehicle carrying French forces in the northern Kidal region set off a mine on Wednesday but no one was hurt and it was not immediately clear who was responsible, four local residents told Reuters. </s> BAMAKO - Gunmen on motorbikes have killed more than 30 Tuareg civilians this week in northern Mali, where clashes over land and scarce water are common, an official said on Wednesday.

The violence compounds an already dire security situation in the desert region used by jihadist groups to launch attacks in Mali and across West Africa.

The identity of the assailants was unknown, but disputes between the nomadic Tuareg and herder Fulani ethnic groups have killed several hundred and displaced thousands over the past year.

Menaka town mayor Nanout Kotia told Reuters 34 Tuareg were killed in two nearby villages on Tuesday.

“Armed men riding several motorbikes, as is their custom, encircled these villages and shot at the people. The death toll is high,” Kotia said by telephone.

The attack follows the killing of more than 40 Tuareg civilians in the same area in mid-December and the death of 15 Fulani civilians in Mali’s central Mopti region in the same month.

Mali has been in turmoil since Tuareg rebels and loosely allied Islamists took over its north in 2012, prompting French forces to intervene to push them back the following year.

They have since regained a foothold in the north and centre, tapping into ethnic rivalries to recruit new </s> Bamako, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jun, 2019 ) :At least 14 people were killed in an attack on two ethnic Dogon villages in central Mali, local officials said Tuesday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's attack but Mali has seen a spate of violence this year between ethnic Dogon and Fulani communities.

The attacks on Ganfafani and Yoro villages near the border with Burkina Faso left "14 people dead according to a provisional toll", said local judicial official Boubacar Sidiki Samake.

A Mali military source said as many as 40 people may have been killed.

Goundjou Poudiougou, a local community official, said a dozen bodies had been counted in both villages.

Earlier this year 130 people were killed in an attack on a village by suspected militiamen from a rival ethnic group.

Jihadist raids remain a persistent threat in Mali, but in the centre of the country, an ethnic mosaic, attacks have had a bloody impact on groups that have a history of rivalry. </s> Bamako: Gunmen on motorbikes have killed more than 30 Tuareg civilians this week in northern Mali, where clashes over land and scarce water are common, an official said on Wednesday.

The violence compounds an already dire security situation in the desert region used by jihadist groups to launch attacks in Mali and across West Africa.

The identity of the assailants was unknown, but disputes between the nomadic Tuareg and herder Fulani ethnic groups have killed several hundred and displaced thousands over the past year.

Menaka town mayor Nanout Kotia said 34 Tuareg were killed in two nearby villages on Tuesday. </s> A group of gunmen who disguised themselves as traditional hunters have surrounded a Mali village and killed at least 134 Fulani herders.

Key points:

 Pregnant women, children and the elderly were among those slain

 The attack may have been in retaliation after an Al Qaeda-linked group killed 23 soldiers

 Jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State have exploited ethnic rivalries in Mali

 It was the deadliest such attack of recent times in a region reeling from worsening ethnic and jihadist violence.

The Fulani ethnic group are semi-nomadic, primarily Muslim and live in various West African nations.

Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby town of Bankass, said armed men, dressed as traditional Donzo hunters, encircled and attacked Ogossagou.

“We are provisionally at 134 bodies recovered by the gendarmes [military police],” Mr Guindo said.

He said another nearby Fulani village, Welingara, had also been attacked, causing “a number” of deaths, but he did not yet know how many.

Security sources said the dead included pregnant women, children and elderly people.

The armed attacks took place as a United Nations Security Council mission visited Mali seeking solutions to violence that killed hundreds of civilians last year and is spreading across West Africa’s Sahel region.

One Ogossagou resident, who asked not to be identified, said the attack appeared to be in retaliation, after an Al Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility for a raid last week that killed 23 soldiers.

That group said that raid was payback for violence by Mali’s army and militiamen against the Fulani.

Jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State have exploited ethnic rivalries in Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years to boost recruitment and render vast swathes of territory virtually ungovernable. </s> BAMAKO, Mali — A Tuareg leader says armed men on motorcycles have attacked a nomadic community near Mali’s border with Niger, killing at least 12 civilians.

Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, secretary-general for the Tuareg self-defence group, said Wednesday the attack targeted men in the Iboghilitane community about 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Menaka.

The violence risks setting off a new cycle of intercommunal clashes in the Menaka region where 100 civilians have already been killed this year.

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga says patrols have been sent to investigate.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Ag Acharatoumane said community residents include many members of the Islamic State organization. He said the attack may have been in retaliation for one by extremists a few months ago on the Idarfane community. </s> At least 12 Touareg civilians died Tuesday in an attack by gunmen in eastern Mali, a region hit by chronic unrest between local tribes and jihadist militants, sources said.

About 200 people, many of them civilians from the Fulani and Tuareg tribes have been killed in the area this year as militants claiming allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) clash with local groups backing a French security force and the Malian army.

The attack took place 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Menaka according to a local official, a security source, and a statement by ex-rebels in the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA).

"Armed men on motorcycles killed at least 12 civilians," the official told AFP, citing a resident of the town who claimed to have seen the bodies.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, added that "for now we do not know exactly who did it. I don't know if it was the result of a dispute between tribes or a terrorist act."

The security source said some of his sources spoke of 12 dead, while others put the toll at 16.

The MSA statement said "armed individuals on motorcycles had executed 17 civilians" from two Tuareg camps.

Mali's unrest stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

The extremists were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.
At least 15 Tuaregs are killed when armed men from a rival ethnic group (Fulani) attack their village in northern Mali, according to local authorities.