In Mali, the passengers of three buses were kidnapped on Tuesday by Jnim, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, linked to al-Qaeda, in the Bandiagara circle in the center of the country. Some have been released, discussions are underway for the passengers still held hostage.
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We no longer count the attacks of the Katiba Macina of Jnim on this portion of the RN15. According to several elected officials and local notables, three buses were stopped on Tuesday, November 7, by jihadists between Parou and Songobia. The women and children were immediately released.
On Wednesday, the men who were traveling in one of these buses were also released. They came from a village which had concluded a local agreement with the Jnim – this is the case of several dozen localities, forced to submit to the rules of the jihadists in areas which escape state control. But the other two buses were burned and their passengers are still being held hostage.
At least twenty hostages
It is impossible to come up with precise figures, but they would be at least twenty, perhaps several dozen. The jihadists would target residents coming from villages which have not signed a local agreement, and would particularly seek out traditional Dozo hunters, who fight the Jnim and often collaborate with the Malian army.
Local community relays are mobilized for their release and that of other civilians kidnapped in the same area in recent years.