At least five people including customs officers and civilians were killed on Saturday in southeastern Mali during a "
terrorist attack
" against a customs post, a military source and a local elected official told AFP.
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“
A terrorist attack caused the death of seven civilians and customs officers at the Koutiala checkpoint
,” the military source told AFP.
But a local elected official gave a slightly different assessment: “
Today there was a terrorist attack at a security post near Koutiala.
At least five customs officers and civilians were killed
,” he told AFP.
The military source and the local elected official did not give the precise number of customs officers and civilians killed in this attack.
“
The enemies also suffered losses.
The situation is currently under control
,” said the military source.
The Malian army carried out a search on Saturday in the Koutiala area, near the border with Burkina Faso, a country the scene of violence attributed to jihadists.
Mali has been the scene since 2012 of attacks carried out by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, as well as violence of all kinds perpetrated by self-proclaimed self-defense militias and bandits.
This violence, which started in the north in 2012, spread to the center, then to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
They caused thousands of civilian and military deaths as well as hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, despite the deployment of UN, French and African forces.