Rights Group: 18 Killed in Airstrike on Market in Northern Mali
A local human rights group reported that a military airstrike on a market in the Timbuktu region of northern Mali on Sunday killed at least 18 people and injured seven. The Malian army, however, stated that it was targeting terrorists.
The “Gathering for the Defense of the Azawad People,” a group linked to separatist Tuareg rebels, claimed that Malian armed forces bombed a weekly market 50 kilometers north of the town of Léré.
On Monday, the Malian army confirmed that it had carried out airstrikes on what it described as terrorist activity in the same region mentioned by the rights group.
In a statement on the platform “X,” the military said that the strikes had “neutralized” at least 11 terrorists. Northern Mali is a hotspot for extremist activities linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS. It is uncommon for Mali, which has been under military rule since a 2020 coup, to conduct airstrikes on rebel targets in the north of the country.
