Thousands of people fled Diabaly, an ancient city about 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of Bamako, on Wednesday, following an attack by unidentified assailants in which at least 31 people were killed, an official in the Malian capital said.
According to officials in the city, members of the armed groups that have long controlled Mali’s northern desert region came to Diabaly on Tuesday night and attacked several groups of people while they were celebrating as the day in Mali celebrating female genital mutilation had passed.
“We had a big mélange of between 3,000 and 5,000 people, many of them girls, celebrating and singing,” Fatouma Maiga, the mayor of Diabaly, told Reuters. “Everyone was very happy and a very small number of armed men took over the small restaurant in front of the house where the girl’s group had eaten.”
“It was as if someone had lighted a switch on, all the girls fled running to save their lives,” she said. “Even before Diabaly’s electricity returned the attackers came back, they attacked again.”
According to Anadolu Agency, the mayor said the corpses of women and children, the majority of whom are from women’s groups, were found in front of the local police station.
The local governor of the Diabaly region said that the attackers came in three taxis but that he thought it was possible the attackers came from the northern part of the country.
“According to my most recent information the terrorists came in three taxis and that’s how they got access,” Mohamed Amod Doumbia told Anadolu Agency. “Either they came from the northern regions, whose territory is far from here, or they entered by force.”
The U.N. World Food Program said it had distributed emergency food assistance to residents in the area.
Read the full story at The Guardian.
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