Six killed by landmine in central Mali: local officials

by Staff Writers Bamako (AFP) Dec 19, 2018 AFP

Six civilians, including four women, were killed in central Mali on Wednesday when the vehicle they were in drove over a landmine, local officials said.

The road they were travelling on is regularly the scene of explosions by improvised bombs blamed on jihadists.

Last month three Mali soldiers were killed in a similar attack near the central town of Boni.

Wednesday's landmine attack left six people injured, as well as the six dead, a local elected official told AFP.

"It was certainly a mine placed there by terrorists," he added, in reference to jihadist fighters.

A fellow local official confirmed the toll and said that one of the victims was a baby.

Mali has been struggling to return to stability after Islamist extremists took control of the north in early 2012, prompting a military intervention by France.

The extremists were routed in the French operation in 2013 but large stretches of the landlocked African state remain out of government control.