Around 400 civilians from the Tuareg community have been killed in a series of atrocities carried out by the local Islamic State also known as ISIL (ISIS) in rural areas of Mali’s northern Menaka region, an area close to the borders with Niger. The exact number of people killed is unknown.
Since March 8, Tuareg civilians, activists, and militant groups have consistently reported on the massacres. The majority of those deceased are of ‘Dawsahak’ Tuareg tribe.
The Islamic State has announced its operation in Menaka, albeit the fatalities are being blamed on rival Tuareg militants rather than civilians.
The killings also mark the start of the Islamic State’s newly formed Sahel Province, which separates its Sahelian soldiers from the West Africa Province and into its own administrative body. Previously, the organization was known as the Islamic State of Greater Sahara.
On March 1, an officer from the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) was assassinated by the Islamic State in the town of Tamalat. The MSA retaliated by clashing with the Islamic State, killing eight of its fighters a few days later.
In retribution, Islamic State terrorists killed around 176 mostly civilians, in Tamalat town on March 8. The massacres occurred following a confrontation between Islamic State terrorists and MSA fighters.
Since the Tamalat massacre, the MSA has been engaged in a cycle of violence with the Islamic State, supported by its ally, the Imghad Tuareg and Allies Self-Defense Movement (GATIA). In response to the militias’ attempts to push the Islamic State back, the jihadists have continued to slaughter people.
Similar confrontations has happened in Mali’s Menaka region back in 2018, between the MSA-GATIA coalition and the Islamic State, though the number of civilians killed was not quite as high as it is now.
Video showing members of Tuareg community buries 400 victims of IS massacre:
