Mali, suspected terror attack in Mopti village

Local sources have reported that suspected jihadists killed more than 20 people in a series of attacks on villages in the central Mali’s insurgency-hit Mopti region, on 20 December. Unidentified assailants on motorcycles have ransacked and burned six villages in the Bandiagara area, anonymous sources revealed. No comment was made on the immediate attacks by the military authorities in power. Mali has been fighting armed groups with links to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State since 2012, when militants spread to other countries in the Sahel region south of the Sahara, conquering large territories and killing thousands.