At least 50 people were killed on Friday in an ambush near the northeastern Mali city of Gao, as armed assailants targeted a convoy and its military escort, local officials and residents said.
The attack took place near the village of Kobe, approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Gao, in a region long plagued by the presence of Islamic State and Al-Qaeda affiliates, who have destabilized Mali and its neighbors, Burkina Faso and Niger, for over a decade.
“People fled from their vehicles, and many civilians were either killed or wounded,” a local official, who requested anonymity due to security reasons, said on Saturday.
The official added that up to 56 bodies were counted at Gao’s hospital, with an unknown number of military casualties. The Malian army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A resident of Gao confirmed that around 50 people were killed and vehicles were set on fire. The frequency of such deadly attacks has led the military to organize near-daily convoys for protection, the resident noted.
The insurgencies in northern Mali originated after a Tuareg separatist uprising in 2012, with Islamist militants spreading across the Sahel region. These ongoing attacks have claimed thousands of lives and contributed to a growing humanitarian crisis, with more than 3.2 million people displaced as of January, according to the International Organization for Migration.
