MALI: At least 15 Tuaregs killed in attack on Mali village

At least 15 Tuaregs were killed when armed men from a rival ethnic group attacked their village in northern Mali, local authorities said on Wednesday. Clashes between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen, often over land and watering points, have killed dozens of civilians this year. That has compounded an already dire security situation […]

At least 15 Tuaregs were killed when armed men from a rival ethnic group attacked their village in northern Mali, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Clashes between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen, often over land and watering points, have killed dozens of civilians this year.

That has compounded an already dire security situation in the country’s north, where attacks by jihadist groups are common.

Tuesday’s raid on a remote desert village in the Menaka region near the border with Niger killed 16 people, Bajan Ag Hamatou, a member of parliament from the area, told Reuters.

“Armed men entered a Tuareg campsite and killed all the men they found,” Hamatou said. “They were attacked by their Fulani brothers.”

The mayor of the nearby town of Menaka, Nanout Kotia, said the attack killed 15 or 16 Tuaregs and appeared to have been motivated by inter-ethnic tensions.