Over 20 killed in attack on central Mali village

Gunmen have killed 26 people in an attack on a village in central Mali’s insurgent-hit Mopti region on Sunday, a local official said on Monday.

The attack targeted a village in the Circle of Bankass, one of several areas in Mali’s north and centre where jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are waging a violent insurgency.

“Armed assailants opened fire on villagers working their fields on Sunday evening,” Bankass Mayor Moulaye Guindo is quoted by Reuters as saying.

Soldiers deployed to the area only reached the village after the attack, Guindo said, deploring worsening insecurity in the West African country.