In a jihadist attack in northern Mali, eleven civilians who were residing in a camp for displaced persons were slain, according to local authorities and charity workers on Wednesday.
Just a few kilometres separate the region’s city of Gao, which has seen growing instability in recent months, from the Kadji camp for displaced persons.
A local councillor in Tessit, where many of the camp’s residents originated, and national television claimed 11 deaths, and the UN organization for refugees corroborated the number.
Men riding motorcycles assaulted the camp late on Monday, according to several reports.
Since March, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara organization has launched a significant push in the farther-eastern areas of Gao and Menaka.
It has resulted in bloody massacres of civilians as well as protracted battles with armed factions located in the vast desert expanses.
Thousands of people have escaped the violence.
According to a UN report from November, about 60,000 displaced individuals have been reported in Gao alone.
The local councilman, who spoke to AFP under the condition of anonymity for his safety, said, “It’s horrific, what occurred.
“[The attack] took place at the displaced person camp where the inhabitants of Tessit have been going since there have been attacks on our homes.”
According to Mohamed Toure, the UNHCR representative in Mali, “all the shelters were set on fire and all the livestock there was taken away.”
He stated that the organization offered social and psychological help to sufferers.
Colonel Famouke Camara, the commander of army operations in the area, described the attack as jihadists’ retaliation against young people they had encountered earlier this year in Tessit who had since sought refuge in the Kadji camp.
In 2012, pro-independence rebels took over Gao; they were later succeeded by Islamists.
