At least four people have been killed, including the chief of staff of Mali’s transitional president, and two are missing following an attack on Tuesday on the convoy of a drilling company in the city of Nara, north of Mali’s capital, Bamako.
»The General Staff of the Armed Forces informs the public that a drilling company, mobilized as part of the social works of the transitional president, was attacked by armed men on the Guiré-Nara axis on April 18, 2023,» reported Colonel Mariam Sagara, deputy director of the Directorate of Information and Public Relations of the Armed Forces (Dirpa).
According to the letter, the Malian authorities, who found a vehicle in flames with a death toll of four, neutralized three presumed assailants and destroyed one of their cars.
The attack took place during the afternoon, when armed men ambushed the victims near the Mauritanian border. Four civilians working for the Malian Presidency, including the chief of staff, Oumar Traoré, alias ‘Douglas’, were killed, according to security sources contacted by Radio France International.
The delegation of the transitional president, Assimi Goita, was traveling in two unescorted civilian vehicles with a total of eight passengers. Two people are missing — a driver and a village chief who was working as a guide — while two others have managed to escape.
»By targeting this enterprise, which aims to reduce the suffering of vulnerable populations, the terrorists show their desperation, their impotence and lack of regard for human life,» the Malian Army statement continued.
Tensions in Mali have increased in recent months between the military junta installed after the coups of August 2020 and May 2021 and the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP, according to its French acronym) — which integrates former Tuareg rebels and members of pro-government militias — amid rising insecurity due to attacks by jihadist groups.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
