BAMAKO (Reuters) - At least 23 people are dead and 300 missing after an attack on Sunday on a village of Fulani herders in central Mali where communal violence has surged in recent months, a local mayor said.

Two other Fulani communities were targeted on Sunday evening, amid a string of deadly assaults between herders and ethnic Dogon farmers who have long fought over land and resources but whose rivalry has been stoked this year by the growing presence of armed Islamist groups.

After raiding the village of Saran, the attackers went on to another village called Bidi, but people had already fled, said Harouna Sankare, mayor of nearby Ouenkoro, who blamed the attack on Dogon hunters.

“Since they didn’t find anybody (in Bidi), they burned the village and the houses and attacked the cattle,” he said.

Other local officials confirmed the attack but did not share the number of casualties. Neither the central authorities nor the army were reachable for comment.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s government has vowed to disarm the militias but has struggled to do so.

Tit-for-tat violence between the rival communities has escalated this year. In March, suspected Dogon militiamen killed more than 150 Fulani in central Mali, one of the worst acts of bloodshed in the country’s recent history. Raids on Dogon villages in June killed over 40 people.

Instability is fueled further by the presence of jihadist militants, who use northern and central Mali as launchpads to stage attacks across the Sahel.

Elsewhere in central Mali, 12 civilians including a baby were killed on Sunday when the vehicle they were traveling in hit a landmine. Local mayor Issiaka Ganame said none of the passengers survived. It was not clear who laid the mine, but jihadist groups are known to deploy this kind of ordnance in the region. </s> At least 23 people have been killed and 300 missing after an attack on Sunday on a village of Fulani herders in central Mali where communal violence has surged in recent months, a local mayor said.

Two other Fulani communities were targeted on Sunday evening amid a string of deadly assaults between herders and ethnic Dogon farmers who have long fought over land and resources but whose rivalry has been stoked this year by the growing presence of armed groups.

"During Sunday, and overnight, in the villages of Bidi, Sankoro and Saran, armed men attacked civilians, killing 23 of them," Cheick Harouna Sankare, mayor of the neighbouring town of Ouenkoro, told AFP news agency.

"The situation is serious, the army needs to act to reassure the population," he said, adding that an emergency meeting had been called.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's government has vowed to disarm the militias but has struggled to do so.

Tit-for-tat violence between rival communities escalated this year. In March, suspected Dogon militiamen killed more than 150 Fulani in central Mali, one of the worst acts of bloodshed in the country's recent history. Raids on Dogon villages in June killed over 40 people.

Instability is fuelled further by the presence of armed groups, who use northern and central Mali as launchpads to stage attacks across the Sahel.

Elsewhere in central Mali, 12 civilians including a baby were killed on Sunday when the vehicle they were travelling in hit a landmine.

Local mayor Issiaka Ganame said none of the passengers survived. It was not clear who laid the mine, but armed groups are known to deploy this kind of ordnance in the region.

Unrest in the central region coincides with an ongoing campaign the Mali government is struggling to contain despite military help from France and the United Nations. </s> At least 23 people have been killed and 300 missing after an attack on Sunday on a village of Fulani herders in central Mali where communal violence has surged in recent months, a local mayor said.

Two other Fulani communities were targeted on Sunday evening amid a string of deadly assaults between herders and ethnic Dogon farmers who have long fought over land and resources but whose rivalry has been stoked this year by the growing presence of armed groups.

"During Sunday, and overnight, in the villages of Bidi, Sankoro and Saran, armed men attacked civilians, killing 23 of them," Cheick Harouna Sankare, mayor of the neighbouring town of Ouenkoro, told AFP news agency.

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"The situation is serious, the army needs to act to reassure the population," he said, adding that an emergency meeting had been called.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's government has vowed to disarm the militias but has struggled to do so.

Tit-for-tat violence between rival communities escalated this year. In March, suspected Dogon militiamen killed more than 150 Fulani in central Mali, one of the worst acts of bloodshed in the country's recent history. Raids on Dogon villages in June killed over 40 people.

Instability is fuelled further by the presence of armed groups, who use northern and central Mali as launchpads to stage attacks across the Sahel.

Elsewhere in central Mali, 12 civilians including a baby were killed on Sunday when the vehicle they were travelling in hit a landmine.

Local mayor Issiaka Ganame said none of the passengers survived. It was not clear who laid the mine, but armed groups are known to deploy this kind of ordnance in the region.

Unrest in the central region coincides with an ongoing campaign the Mali government is struggling to contain despite military help from France and the United Nations. </s> At least 23 civilians were killed in central Mali after armed men attacked three Fulani communities, a local mayor and security forces said Monday.

Reuters news agency also reported that some 300 people were missing following the attacks.

"During Sunday, and overnight, in the villages of Bidi, Sankoro and Saran, armed men attacked civilians, killing 23 of them," Cheick Harouna Sankare, mayor of the neighboring town of Ouenkoro.

After raiding the village of Saran, the attackers went on to Bidi, but people had already fled, said Harouna Sankare, who blamed the attack on Dogon hunters.

"Since they didn't find anybody [in Bidi], they burned the village and the houses and attacked the cattle," he said.

The attacks come following a wave of deadly assaults between Fulani herders and Dogon farmers who have long fought over land and resources.

The rivalry has escalated in recent years due to the growing presence of armed Islamist groups.

Read more: Mali: 'Worse than anything we’ve seen in living memory'

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's government has promised to disarm the militias but has so far struggled to do so.

Tit-for-tat violence between the rival communities has increased this year. In March, suspected Dogon militiamen killed more than 150 Fulani in central Mali in one of the most violent attacks in the country's recent history. Raids on Dogon villages in June killed over 40 people.

Read more: Mali's security crisis: A cycle of exploitation and corruption

In other parts of central Mali, 12 civilians including a baby were killed on Sunday when the vehicle they were traveling in struck a landmine. Local mayor Issiaka Ganame told Reuters news agency that none of the passengers survived.

It was not clear who laid the mine, but jihadist groups have been known to deploy this kind of ordnance in the region.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Dogon villages often follow a traditional way of life

Nearly 100 people have been killed in an attack in a village in central Mali inhabited by the Dogon ethnic group, officials say.

The attack happened in Sobame Da, near Sanga town in the Mopti region.

The search for bodies is ongoing, but officials say 95 people have been found dead, with many of the bodies burned.

There have been numerous attacks in Mali in recent months, some ethnically driven, some carried out by jihadist groups.

Clashes between Dogon hunters and semi-nomadic Fulani herders are frequent.

Mali's government said "suspected terrorists" had attacked the village at around 03:00 local time. At least 19 people were still missing, it said.

But the mayor of nearby Bankass, Moulaye Guindo, told Reuters news agency that Fulanis from that district had attacked Sobane-Kou after nightfall.

"About 50 heavily armed men arrived on motorbikes and pickups," a survivor who called himself Amadou Togo told the AFP agency. "They first surrounded the village and then attacked – anyone who tried to escape was killed."

"No-one was spared – women, children, elderly people," he added.

No group has officially said it was responsible for the attack.

"Right now we have 95 dead civilians. The bodies are burned, we are continuing to look for others," a local official told AFP.

What is the Dogon-Fulani conflict?

The Dogon people have lived in central Mali for centuries, and live a largely traditional way of life as settled farmers.

Many Fulani, on the other hand, are semi-nomadic herders who move across large distances in West Africa.

Friction between farmers and the roaming herders over resources is long-standing – but clashes between them have increased since a militant Islamist uprising in northern Mali in 2012.

Both sides accuse the other of carrying out attacks amid the unrest.

The Fulani, a largely Muslim ethnic group, have been accused of having links with the Islamist uprising. But for their part, the Fulani accuse a Dogon self-defence association, Dan Na Ambassagou, of attacks on them.

The attack on Sobame Da has killed about a third of its inhabitants.

In the same region in March, more than 130 Fulani villagers were killed by armed men wearing traditional Dogon hunters' clothing.

In March, more than 130 people were killed in an attack on the villages of Ogossagou and Welingara

After the attack, the Dogon Dan Na Ambassagou was banned by Mali's government.

But the organisation, which insists it is a self-defence group and had nothing to do with the killings, refused calls to lay down its arms.

The United Nations mission in Mali, in a report dated 31 May, said the security situation in central Mali "continued to deteriorate".

It said that clashes between the Dogon and Fulani had been "exacerbated by the presence of extremist groups", and that the central region had recorded the highest number of attacks against civilians.

Hundreds of people have been killed so far this year.

What effect did the Islamist uprising have?

There are several Islamist groups based in northern Mali. In 2013, they seized half of the country and were advancing on the capital, Bamako.

France, the former colonial power in Mali, and some neighbouring African countries, intervened – and pushed the Islamist groups back towards their strongholds in the Sahara desert.

Before the unrest, disagreements between the Fulani and Dogon were often settled through negotiation.

But the uprising - which had spread to the centre of Mali by 2015 - decreased government control and increased the availability of weapons. </s> Eric Feferberg, AFP | Women belonging to the Dogon ethnic group walk back to the village they left in central Mali after it was taken by Islamist groups in February 2013.

At least 95 people were killed when gunmen raided their village in central Mali late on Sunday, FRANCE 24 has confirmed, marking the latest attack in a region that has witnessed a resurgence of ethnic and jihadist violence.

The attack took place in the ethnic Dogon village of Sobane, in Mali’s central Mopti region, where Dogon hunters and members of the largely nomadic Fulani ethnic group have repeatedly clashed in recent months.

Armed assailants set fire to the village and shot villagers as they sought to escape the flames, the mayor of Sangha told FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Bamako, Christelle Pire.

The mayor said the charred bodies of 95 people had been found and that several more villagers were missing.

Contacted by FRANCE 24, the Malian defence ministry confirmed the death toll at 95, adding that 19 people were still missing and that the toll was likely to rise.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.

Members of the Dogon and Fulani groups often clash over access to land and water. The Dogon also accuse Fulanis of having ties to local jihadist groups, while Fulanis claim that Mali’s army has armed Dogon hunters to attack them.

Earlier this year, the massacre of more than 150 Fulani villagers, including women and children, prompted Mali’s government to sack senior military officials and dissolve a militia composed of Dogon hunters.

Weeks later, the entire government resigned over its failure to disarm militias and beat back Islamist militants, who continue to stage attacks six years after France helped Malian forces stave off a jihadist insurgency in the country's restive north. </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Dogon villages often follow a traditional way of life

Nearly 100 people have been killed in an attack in a village in central Mali inhabited by the Dogon ethnic group, officials say.

The attack happened in Sobame Da, near Sanga town in the Mopti region.

The search for bodies is ongoing, but officials say 95 people have been found dead, with many of the bodies burned.

There have been numerous attacks in Mali in recent months, some ethnically driven, some carried out by jihadist groups.

Clashes between Dogon hunters and semi-nomadic Fulani herders are frequent.

Mali's government said "suspected terrorists" had attacked the village at around 03:00 local time. At least 19 people were still missing, it said.

But the mayor of nearby Bankass, Moulaye Guindo, told Reuters news agency that Fulanis from that district had attacked Sobane Da after nightfall.

"About 50 heavily armed men arrived on motorbikes and pickups," a survivor who called himself Amadou Togo told the AFP agency. "They first surrounded the village and then attacked – anyone who tried to escape was killed."

"No-one was spared – women, children, elderly people," he added.

No group has officially said it was responsible for the attack.

"Right now we have 95 dead civilians. The bodies are burned, we are continuing to look for others," a local official told AFP.

What is the Dogon-Fulani conflict?

The Dogon people have lived in central Mali for centuries, and live a largely traditional way of life as settled farmers.

Many Fulani, on the other hand, are semi-nomadic herders who move across large distances in West Africa.

Friction between farmers and the roaming herders over resources is long-standing – but clashes between them have increased since a militant Islamist uprising in northern Mali in 2012.

Both sides accuse the other of carrying out attacks amid the unrest.

The Fulani, a largely Muslim ethnic group, have been accused of having links with the Islamist uprising. But for their part, the Fulani accuse a Dogon self-defence association, Dan Na Ambassagou, of attacks on them.

Analysis: A crisis getting worse

By Louise Dewast, West Africa correspondent

There is a growing view in Mali that the (mostly military) response to this multi-faceted crisis is ineffective and even counter-productive. Despite having a large UN peacekeeping mission and French forces deployed since 2013, insecurity has worsened in some parts of the country.

According to the International Crisis Group, there were four times more attacks in May 2019 compared to May 2016. In their latest report on the country, the group urges the government to engage in dialogue with militants to negotiate local ceasefires and facilitate humanitarian access to civilians in need.

After another massacre of Fulanis in March, senior officials were sacked, people took to the streets – and the entire government resigned in April.

Is this attack unusual?

The attack on Sobame Da has killed about a third of its inhabitants.

In the same region in March, more than 130 Fulani villagers were killed by armed men wearing traditional Dogon hunters' clothing.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption In March, more than 130 people were killed in an attack on the villages of Ogossagou and Welingara

After the attack, the Dogon Dan Na Ambassagou was banned by Mali's government.

But the organisation, which insists it is a self-defence group and had nothing to do with the killings, refused calls to lay down its arms.

The United Nations mission in Mali, in a report dated 31 May, said the security situation in central Mali "continued to deteriorate".

It said that clashes between the Dogon and Fulani had been "exacerbated by the presence of extremist groups", and that the central region had recorded the highest number of attacks against civilians.

Hundreds of people have been killed so far this year.

What effect did the Islamist uprising have?

There are several Islamist groups based in northern Mali. In 2013, they seized half of the country and were advancing on the capital, Bamako.

France, the former colonial power in Mali, and some neighbouring African countries, intervened – and pushed the Islamist groups back towards their strongholds in the Sahara desert.

Before the unrest, disagreements between the Fulani and Dogon were often settled through negotiation.

But the uprising - which had spread to the centre of Mali by 2015 - decreased government control and increased the availability of weapons. </s> At least 14 people were killed in an attack on two ethnic Dogon villages in centre of Mali, local officials said Tuesday, in the latest in a cycle of violence in the fragile Sahel country.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack but Mali has seen a spate of massacres this year between ethnic Dogon and Fulani communities.

The attacks on Ganfafani and Yoro villages near the border with Burkina Faso left “14 people dead according to a provisional toll”, said local judicial official Boubacar Sidiki Samake.

A Mali military source said as many as 40 people may have been killed.

Goundjou Poudiougou, a local community official, said around a dozen bodies had been counted in both villages.

“They are terrorists because they killed and then disembowelled some bodies and burned crops,” Poudiougou said.

Earlier this month, a massacre on another Dogon village, Sobane Da, killed 35 people, stirring fears of tit-for-tat attacks in a region with an ethnic patchwork.

“This time is the same as Sobane Da: People and animals targetted,” said Adama Dionko, a spokesman for the Mali’s Dogon association.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has appealed for an end to the revenge violence after he visited the site of the Sobane Da massacre.

But despite military help from France and the UN, Mali’s government is struggling to calm violence that began in the north of the country in 2012, sparked by radical Islamist and Tuareg militias.

Earlier this year, in the bloodiest raid, 160 Fulani were killed in an attack on a village by suspected militiamen from a rival ethnic group.

Ethnic violence in central Mali surged after a predominantly Fulani jihadist group led by preacher Amadou Koufa emerged in 2015.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, said in May it had recorded nearly 500 deaths in attacks on Fulanis in the central regions of Mopti and Segou since January 2018.

Armed Fulanis caused 63 deaths among civilians in the Mopti region over the same period, it said.

The Fulani are primarily cattle breeders and traders, while the Bambara and Dogon ethic groups are traditionally sedentary farmers.

Unrest in the volatile central region coincides with an ongoing jihadist campaign that the Mali government is struggling to contain. </s> Attackers believed to belong to the Fulani ethnic group raided a rival Dogon village in central Mali overnight, killing at least 95 people and burning houses to the ground, local and government officials said on Monday.

Violence between Dogon hunters and Fulani herders has killed hundreds since January, including an attack in March in which gunmen killed more than 150 Fulani, one of the worst acts of bloodshed in Mali’s recent history.

Sunday’s raid took place in the Sangha district, where Fulanis from the neighbouring Bankass district descended on a Dogon village after dark, Bankass mayor Moulaye Guindo told Reuters on Monday.

“Armed men, apparently Fulani, fired at the population and burnt the village,” said Siriam Kanoute, an official for the nearby town of Bandiagara.

Sangha mayor Ali Dolo told Reuters 95 charred bodies had been found so far, but that the death toll was likely to rise as the village was still ablaze.

“On a population of around 300 inhabitants, only 50 responded to the roll call,” said Dolo.

A security ministry spokesman confirmed the attack but said the assailants had not been identified.

Violence between Fulani and rival communities has compounded an already dire security situation in Mali’s semi-arid and desert regions, which are used as a base by jihadist groups with ties to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Those groups have exploited ethnic rivalries in Mali and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years to boost recruitment and extend their influence over vast swathes of territory.

The Malian government is seen as having lost its grip over parts of the country having outsourced the fight against jihadists to vigilante groups with scores to settle.

The Dogon suspect the Fulani of harbouring Islamist militants, charges the Fulani deny.

French forces intervened in Mali, a former French colony, in 2013 to push back a jihadist advance from the north but the militants have since regrouped. – Reuters
At least 23 people are dead and 300 missing after attacks on three Fulani villages in central Mali.