BAMAKO: Mali’s army on Thursday said it had carried out air strikes against Al-Qaeda affiliated Macina Katiba militants in the country’s center following the massacre of at least 132 civilians.
It carried out strikes between Monday and Wednesday around Bankass and Segue, near where the mass killing took place, and also further afield around Djenne and Tenenkou, the army said in a statement.
“These actions resulted from efforts to search for and gather information on the perpetrators of the attacks against civilians on 18 June,” the statement said.
The army did not provide any assessment of the operations, which no other sources have confirmed.
Mali suffered one of its worst civilian killings over the weekend, the latest in an ongoing series of massacres across the Sahel.
According to the government, 132 civilians were killed in Diallassagou and two surrounding villages, a few dozen kilometers from the town of Bankass.
The Malian army described the killings as a backlash against the “strong pressure” it says it has put them under in recent months.
The UN, France and other international observers have expressed grave concern about the deteriorating security situation in Mali.
Dozens of civilians protested on Tuesday in Bankass to demand state protection.
Mali has since 2012 been rocked by militant insurgencies.
Violence began in the north and then spread to the center and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
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Mali army strikes militants after massacre, army says
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Mali army strikes militants after massacre, army says
- Strikes carried out between Monday and Wednesday around Bankass and Segue, near where the mass killing took place
India PM Modi’s party elects youngest-ever president with eye to youth vote
MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose a little-known legislator from India’s poorest state as the party’s youngest president on Tuesday, a generational shift in the effort to retain young voters.
Nitin Nabin, 45, takes over from outgoing president J.P. Nadda, 65, months before key state elections, one of them in the eastern state of West Bengal, which the BJP has never won and is strongly focused on.
A five-time lawmaker from the eastern state of Bihar, Nabin was elected unopposed as the party’s 12th president after Modi and other leaders proposed him.
Hundreds of workers watched at party headquarters in New Delhi as Nabin, his forehead smeared with a vermillion mark and his shoulders wrapped in a scarf with the party symbol, took the oath of office before Modi and four past presidents.
“When it comes to the party, I am a worker and he is my boss,” Modi, 75, said in his remarks, pointing to Nabin, who will serve a three-year term.
In his speech, Nabin repeatedly praised Modi as a generational leader and urged young people to take an active part in politics.
More than 40 percent of India’s one billion voters are aged between 18 and 39, the Election Commission and analysts estimate.
The BJP suffered a shock setback in the 2024 general election as Modi lost his majority after 10 years in power and had to rely on regional allies to form a government.
But it has since regained ground, winning critical state and civic body elections. The party and its allies govern 19 of India’s 28 states.
Nitin Nabin, 45, takes over from outgoing president J.P. Nadda, 65, months before key state elections, one of them in the eastern state of West Bengal, which the BJP has never won and is strongly focused on.
A five-time lawmaker from the eastern state of Bihar, Nabin was elected unopposed as the party’s 12th president after Modi and other leaders proposed him.
Hundreds of workers watched at party headquarters in New Delhi as Nabin, his forehead smeared with a vermillion mark and his shoulders wrapped in a scarf with the party symbol, took the oath of office before Modi and four past presidents.
“When it comes to the party, I am a worker and he is my boss,” Modi, 75, said in his remarks, pointing to Nabin, who will serve a three-year term.
In his speech, Nabin repeatedly praised Modi as a generational leader and urged young people to take an active part in politics.
More than 40 percent of India’s one billion voters are aged between 18 and 39, the Election Commission and analysts estimate.
The BJP suffered a shock setback in the 2024 general election as Modi lost his majority after 10 years in power and had to rely on regional allies to form a government.
But it has since regained ground, winning critical state and civic body elections. The party and its allies govern 19 of India’s 28 states.
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