More than 40 civilians were killed in Mali by gunmen

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More than 40 civilians were killed in attacks launched by gunmen last weekend on camps in the Menaka region in northeastern Mali, according to what security and local sources reported yesterday, Monday.

The sources reported that the attackers used motorcycles to reach camps mostly inhabited by members of the Dushaq tribe, whose executive body accused the Islamic State of being behind the killings.

According to the sources, the Doushak tribe is the cradle of the armed "Movement for the Rescue of Azawad", which is allied with the government in Bamako, and the targeted camps are located about 50 kilometers from the city of Menaka, in or near the village of Tinabou and the Tagadayat region.

A security source in Gao told AFP that the mass killings occurred "in response to the military operations carried out in the region recently, and to the attacks of the Movement for the Rescue of Azawad."

The source added, "According to the information we received, the number of dead was about 40, most of them men."

Since 2012, Mali has been suffering from a severe security crisis, as the army and its Russian allies face jihadist fighters, Tuareg separatist groups, and criminal gangs. Economic instability has exacerbated this crisis.

Since two successive coups in 2020 and 2021, the ruling military junta in Mali has turned to Russia for support, using paramilitary forces from the Wagner Group, which turned into the Africa Corps in 2025.

In the killings that occurred on Sunday, gunmen stormed several camps 50 kilometers from the town of Minaka, according to another security source told AFP on Monday.

The source added, "They shot everything that moved. Fifty civilians were killed, including young people and the elderly," noting that displaced people who fled the violence began arriving in Minaka on Monday.

A local source in Tenabo told AFP that on Sunday evening, “suddenly dozens of motorcycles arrived, and the attackers started shooting and setting fire to homes.”

The source added, "They didn't talk to anyone. They just started killing. I saw dozens of bodies."

A local official also spoke of a higher number of deaths, telling Agence France-Presse that the toll "exceeds 50 dead, including women and the elderly," referring to the displacement of residents to Minaka.

The Doshak Community Executive Authority reported that “48 civilians” were killed on Sunday in Tagadayat. In a statement, the office condemned the "massacre" and called for urgent humanitarian aid to be provided to the displaced.

For its part, the Malian army announced that it carried out operations in the same area on Saturday, about 65 kilometers southwest of Menaka, and attacked “a main base that includes terrorist elements and military equipment.”