A Malian army airstrike on a market in the northern Timbuktu region killed at least 18 people and wounded seven, a local rights group reported, while the military insisted it was targeting terrorist elements.
The Collective for the Defence of the Rights of the Azawad People, a group linked to Tuareg separatists, said the strike hit a weekly market 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Lerneb on Sunday.
On Monday, Mali’s army confirmed it had conducted air operations in the area, stating on X that the strikes had “neutralized” at least 11 terrorists.
Northern Mali remains a stronghold for armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Tuareg rebels, who have long sought an independent homeland in the Sahara, initially led an insurgency against the Malian government in 2012. However, their rebellion was later overshadowed by Islamist factions, fueling a broader conflict that has since spread across West Africa’s Sahel region.
Tuareg forces have clashed with Malian troops and Russian Wagner mercenaries in the past. In July 2024, rebels claimed responsibility for an attack on a military convoy near Tinzaouaten, close to the Algerian border, reportedly killing dozens of Malian and Russian fighters.
Mali, under military rule since a 2020 coup, has regularly conducted airstrikes in the north. Last August, Tuareg rebels said drone strikes killed 21 civilians, including 11 children, in Tinzaouaten. In October, another strike on a fair in the Timbuktu region left at least eight people dead, including children.
