Several people were killed Sunday in central Mali, the French army saying Tuesday January 5 to have struck dozens of jihadists while villagers and a local association spoke of civilians hit by an unidentified device during a wedding.
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Messages have proliferated on social networks since Sunday on the events of the village of Bounti, in central Mali, one of the main hotbeds of violence in this region plunged into turmoil.
Villagers interviewed by AFP spoke of shooting from an unidentified helicopter they said during a wedding.
They mentioned up to twenty deaths.
The French staff refuted these claims.
A patrol of fighter planes "
neutralized
" dozens of jihadists previously spotted after an intelligence operation lasting several days, he told AFP.
“
The information about a marriage does not match the observations made,
” he said.
Speculations very difficult to verify
The silence observed until then by the Malian civil and military authorities as well as the French armed forces has left the field since Sunday to a flood of speculation, very difficult to verify in a remote area whose access is made very complicated by the reputed presence. strong jihadists.
Offensive air operations in Mali are essentially carried out by the Malian army and the French Barkhane force.
Villagers contacted on the spot reported a helicopter strike in broad daylight causing panic in a crowd they said gathered for a wedding.
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It “
was the savage.
I found myself in the bush but lost two brothers,
”said Ahmadou Ghana.
In all, 19 people were killed and several others seriously injured, he added.
“
We were surprised by the intensity of the strike.
The helicopter was flying very low, to the point where we thought it was going to fly over the village,
”added Mady Dicko.
On Sunday, Tabital Pulakuu, an association for the promotion of the culture of the Peuls, one of the Malian ethnic groups, reported an "
air strike
(having)
cost the lives of at least twenty civilians
" during a marriage.
“
There can be no doubts and ambiguity, there was no marriage.
It is a strike carried out after a particularly formal and multi-party process on a fully identified terrorist armed group, after a cross-checking of information, attitudes, posture, on a characterized area
, "a French military source told AFP. close to the file.
The region of Mopti, where Bounti is located, some 600 kilometers from the capital Bamako, is one of the main centers of violence that started from the north in 2012 and which has spread since 2015 to the south of the country, but also to Burkina Faso. Faso and neighboring Niger.