A man was killed Monday in shots of unknown origin against Algerian soldiers in Tinzaouatine, in southern Algeria, on the Malian border, said the Algerian Ministry of National Defense (DND). Shots were fired "from Ikhraben (Malian locality bordering Tinzaouatine, Editor's note) towards the positions of our border guards, and hit one individual among the crowd," according to a press release from the ministry.
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The man "was immediately evacuated by border guards to be taken care of by the health services, but he unfortunately died of his injuries," the press release added. The defense ministry specifies that "these events relate to an attempt, carried out by people known for their suspicious activities in smuggling and organized crime, aiming to deteriorate the security wall" , namely barbed wire installed at the border to prevent the intrusion of smugglers and / or jihadist fighters.
The army has ordered the opening of an investigation to "elucidate the circumstances of this incident" , and calls for "vigilance" in the face of "disinformation" , which aims to "disrupt the situation in this region". In its statement, the Defense Ministry "formally denies unfounded allegations" , relayed on Monday on social networks, accusing the army of having opened fire on a demonstration by the local population who allegedly tried to remove the barbed wire separating the Algerian and Malian sides in order to fetch water from a neighboring wadi.
DND also accuses smugglers of being behind the calls to demonstrate in order to "release the grip on their interests in the region". Tinzaouatine is a commune located on the border with Mali, where a few thousand Algerians and refugees mainly from Mali live. Deserted and little or not developed, this commune suffers from the lack of water and its proximity to an area where the jihadist threat is omnipresent.