115 reported dead after attack on central Malian village

AP  |  Bamako 

fighters descended on a village in central before dawn Saturday, killing at least 115 people in the latest deadly attack blamed on an ethnic militia, local authorities said.

The victims "included pregnant women, young children and the elderly," according to Abdoul Aziz Diallo, known as Tabital Pulaaku.

It was not immediately possible to independently corroborate the toll given by those in contact with survivors from the Peulh village.

The UN mission in confirmed reports of an attack but gave no figures.

Militants from a Dogon group known as have been blamed for scores of attacks over the past year, according to

The umbrella group comprises a number of self-defence groups from the Dogon villages among others.

The growing prominence of Islamic extremists in central since 2015 has unravelled relations between the Dogon and Peulh communities.

Members of the Dogon group accuse the Peulhs of supporting these jihadists linked to terror groups in the country's north and beyond.

Peulhs have in turn accused the Dogon of supporting the in its effort to stamp out extremism.

In December, had warned that "killings of civilians in central and are spiraling out of control."

The group said that and its leader had been linked to many of the atrocities and called for Malian authorities to prosecute the perpetrators.

Mali's Dogon country with its dramatic cliff landscapes and world renowned traditional art once drew tourists from and beyond who hiked through the region's villages with local guides.

The region, though, has been destabilized in recent years along with much of

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, March 24 2019. 01:05 IST