Touch upon this storyComment
BAMAKO, Mali — A senior Malian official and three different individuals have been killed in an ambush in an space of the nation’s southwest, the federal government stated Thursday. The assault occurred in an space the place Islamic extremists are lively.
The president’s chief of employees, Oumar Traore, was killed whereas touring close to the world of Nara within the Kayes area, the presidency’s monetary and administrative director Lt-Col Cheick Mamadou Cherif Tounkara stated in an announcement.
Traore’s bodyguard, a driver and the proprietor of a drilling firm had been additionally killed and one of many drivers remains to be lacking, he stated. A funeral was held for the victims on Thursday afternoon.
The federal government didn’t say after they died, what number of vehicles they had been touring in or who it believed to be behind the assault, which occurred in an space the place jihadis are lively.
The West African nation has for a decade been battling a jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, which has killed hundreds.
The assault on such a excessive rating official is uncommon and vital, battle analysts stated.
“Whereas nonetheless unclear if this was a focused assassination, it’s positively is a distraction and a priority for (the federal government),” stated Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow on the Coverage Heart for the New South, a Moroccan-based assume tank.
“Authorities must dedicate extra assets to keep away from excessive profile assaults, together with doable ones on the capital,” Lyammouri added.