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Strike on market in north Mali kills 18, civil society group says

Strike on market in north Mali kills 18, civil society group says

Reuters18-03-2025

BAMAKO, March 18 (Reuters) - An army air strike at a market in Mali's northern Timbuktu region on Sunday killed at least 18 people and injured seven, a local rights group said, while the army said it was targeting terrorists.
The Collective for the Defence of the Rights of the Azawad People, which is linked to separatist Tuareg rebels, said Malian armed forces bombed a weekly market 50 km (30 miles) north of the city of Lerneb.
Mali's army said on Monday it had launched air strikes against what it called terrorist activity in the same area cited by the rights group. It said in a statement on X that the strikes has "neutralised" at least 11 terrorists.
North Mali is rife with militant activity linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The Tuaregs, an ethnic group who inhabit the Sahara region including northern Mali, are fighting for an independent homeland.
They launched an insurgency against Mali's government in 2012, but the rebellion was later hijacked by Islamist groups, setting off a violent insurgency that has since spread across West Africa's Sahel region and beyond.
In July last year, Tuareg rebels attacked a convoy of Malian soldiers and mercenaries of Russia's Wagner Group in the far north of the country, near the town of Tinzaouaten close to the border with Algeria. Dozens of Russian and Malian soldiers were killed in the attack, the rebels said.
It is not uncommon for Mali, which has been under military rule since a 2020 coup, to carry out air strikes on insurgent targets in the north of the country.
At least 21 people, including 11 children, were killed by drone strikes on Tinzaouaten in August, Tuareg rebels said. In October, a drone strike at a fair in Timbuktu region killed at least eight people, including children.

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Kill him, do whatever you want, but I need his confession on my desk Security official 'He told me to lie down. They handcuffed my hands behind my back, and then cuffed my feet and joined my hands and feet together. 'They wrapped me in a blanket, like being inside a pipe. I was sweating and the smell of blood was very strong. I stayed wrapped like that for about a week." Eventually Shadi was released. Undeterred, he began organising protests again, more determined than ever to bring down the regime. Carpet of bodies 15 Thousands still don't know the whereabouts of their imprisoned family members - be they dead or alive Credit: Reuters 15 Hundreds swarmed the now-open prisons, pleading for any sign of their loved ones Credit: Getty 15 Saydnaya was particular well-known for its inhuman conditions and human rights abuses that went on inside Credit: AFP Within nine months of the protests, thousands had been arrested, many bundled off the streets like Shadi and taken to secretive locations where they were tortured until they 'confessed'. At least 3,000 had already been killed. Syria's security forces had a network of spies and informants across the country that tracked people like Shadi's every move. 'You could find informants wherever you go,' said Sergeant Omar, an officer in the Air Force Intelligence. 'They could be a taxi driver, they could be a plumber, a mobile phone shop owner, a guy selling cigarettes. 'People were living in fear. This is why we'd say, 'the walls have ears'.' 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So I grabbed him and pulled him downwards, so another guard who was bigger and stronger said, 'Go I will do it.' 'Before he died he said one thing: 'I'm going to tell God what you did'.' The bodies of the dead - be it from execution, torture, or disease - were then taken to military hospitals where their deaths were registered. 'Most of the bodies suffered acute weight loss, resembling a skeleton,' said Kamal, an army nurse. 'Most of them suffered from skin lesions and rashes due to lack of hygiene - and most of them had torture marks." He added: 'It was forbidden to record the cause of death as torture. Even those killed from gunshots were recorded as heart and respiratory failure.' All the decision makers who had a role in oppressing the Syrian people escaped, and are now in hiding Shadi With the bodies piling up, mass graves were the only solution. At least 130 grave sites have been found across Syria so far - but dozens more are believed to be out there, known only to those who dug them out. There is little hope of identification for the thousands dumped there. Many of the guards and officers defected from Assad's regime, joining the rebels or fleeing the country. By 2019, the rebellion had largely been suppressed. Shadi and his brother were released at last, fleeing to exile in Turkey. Then, in December this year, rebel forces overwhelmed Damascus and Assad fled the country and claimed asylum in Russia. With the collapse of the regime, Shadi set to work helping others locate their missing friends and family. But for many there is little hope of ever finding out what really happened to them. 'Everyone, the detainees, and families of the missing, should keep talking about this,' he said. 'All the decision makers who had a role in oppressing the Syrian people escaped, and are now in hiding. 'They've left everybody to pick up the pieces - to deal with what they left behind.' Surviving Syria's Prisons airs tonight on BBC Two at 9pm.

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