On 3 December 2021 unidentified gunmen attacked a bus in
Mopti
Mopti ( Bambara: ߡߏߕߌ tr. Moti) is a town and an urban commune in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. The town is the capital of the Mopti Cercle and the Mopti Region. Situated 630 km northeast of Bamako, the town lies at the conflue ...
, Central
Mali, firing at its occupants and
setting it on fire, killing 31
civilians and injuring 17.
Most of the passengers were women travelling from
Songo-Doubacore to a
market in
Bandiagara
Bandiagara () is a small town and urban commune in the Mopti Region of Mali. The name translates roughly to "large eating bowl"—referring to the communal bowl meals are served in. Mainly on its Bandiagara Escarpment it has about 2,000 speakers ...
.
According to the local mayor of
Bankass
Bankass (''Báŋkà:s'') is a town and rural commune located in the Mopti Region of Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar ...
, during the
massacre, the
insurgent
An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric na ...
s slashed the tires, proceeding to shoot the civilians to death, then set the bus on fire.
Malian authorities sent a group of state security officers to the
crime scene,
where they found 25 burnt bodies in the vehicle's trunk.
The massacre occurred on the same day that Islamist rebels attacked a convoy in the region, killing two
United Nations peacekeepers. Two days later, unknown
militant
The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...
s
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
ed two UN camps in
Gao. The attacks occurred during a recent insurgency among Islamist insurgents in
West Africa.
Responses
President Assimi Goïta ordered all flags in the country to be flown at
half-mast from Sunday to Tuesday, during which Mali would hold three
national days of mourning
A national day of mourning is a day or days marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of ...
.
spokesman
Ned Price condemned the attack, expressing that the
United States offers its "deepest condolences to the Malian people and will continue to partner with them in their pursuit of a safe, prosperous, and democratic future.”
See also
*
List of massacres in Mali
References
2021 fires in Africa
2021 mass shootings in Africa
Bus massacre
21st-century mass murder in Africa
Arson in Africa
Arson in the 2020s
December 2021 crimes in Africa
December 2021 events in Africa
2021 bus massacre
Massacres in 2021
2021 bus
Mopti Region in the Mali War
Bus massacre
Terrorist incidents on buses in Africa
Vehicle fires
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