No fewer than 11 people have been confirmed dead after a bus hit an explosive device on the road between Bandiagara and Goundaka in central Mali.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that some yet-to-be-identified number of people were severely injured in the accident.
A jihadist insurgency in the West African country has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
A report by the UN mission in Mali (Minusma) found that mines and improvised explosive devices had caused more than 70 deaths by the end of August this year.
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It said most of the victims were soldiers – but a quarter are civilians.
Moussa Housseyni of the local Bandiagara Youth Association, who spoke to newsmen said; ‘We have just transferred nine bodies to the clinic. And it’s not over yet,’ while also adding that they were all civilians.
Earlier, police and local sources gave a provisional toll of 10 dead and many seriously injured.
For more than a decade, Mali has struggled to contain activity by armed rebel groups that has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are among the rebels’ weapons of choice. They can explode on impact or be detonated remotely.
A report by MINUSMA, the United Nations mission in Mali, found that mines and IEDs had killed 72 people in 2022 as of August 31. Most of the victims were soldiers – but more than a quarter were civilians, the report said.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that some time last year, 103 people were killed and 297 injured by IEDs and mines.
Mali is till today, still struggling with a long jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.