According to local sources, more than 20 people, including children, were killed during a marriage ceremony in a remote desert area of Central Mali.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks, but reports surfaced when French military sources said his forces in the country carried out an air strike in the area on Sunday that killed “dozens of fighters” of Islamic groups.
Witnesses said the attacks targeted men on motorcycles in the villages of Bounti and Kikara, who were believed to be Islamic militants.
But civilians were caught in the attack when people gathered for a wedding ceremony on Sunday.
One man who was injured during the strike told the Associated Press that the extremists approached a group of citizens celebrating a wedding and demanded that the men attend from the women.
‘We were carrying out the orders when I heard the sound of an airplane and immediately a bang from above. “I did not see anything afterwards, because I was unconscious,” said the man from a health center in Douentza, on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Other villagers in Bounti said a lone helicopter exploded in broad daylight and sowed panic among a crowd gathered for a wedding.
“This is ‘driving for your lives’,” said Ahmadou Ghana, who said 19 people had been killed, two of whom were his brothers and several others seriously injured.
“We were surprised by the intensity of the strike,” said another villager, Mady Dicko, adding: “The helicopter flew very low.”
On Sunday, Tabital Pulakuu, an association that promotes the culture of the Fulani ethnic group in Mali, reported on an ‘air strike that claimed the lives of at least 20 civilians’ during a wedding.
Confirming reports is difficult in a remote area where many jihadists are suspected of operating.
A spokesman for French military colonel Frederic Barbry denies any connection between the strike and a wedding party, saying a link did not match the information gathered before the air strike.
Barbry told the Associated Press the operation followed a few days’ intelligence mission that showed a “suspicious gathering of people”. The French military could conclude that it was a ‘terrorist-armed group’, based on individuals’ attitudes, their equipment and other information about information, he said.
France has more than 5,100 military personnel stationed in the region to counter Islamic militants. But a seven-year intervention has become costly as forces struggle to contain jihadists in the open desert.
Offensive air operations in Mali are mainly carried out by the Malian army or by the French anti-jihadist force Barkhane.
Bounti is located in the Mopti region, about 370 kilometers from the capital Malam, Bamako. There are many jihadists operating in the area.
The region is the center of a deadly Islamic offensive that began in northern Mali in 2012 and then progressed into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, fueling ethnic tensions along the way.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict to date and hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes.
But Bounti’s death comes during an apparent increase in bloodshed across the Sahel.
On Saturday in western Niger, jihadists killed 100 civilians in one of the largest single killings of non-fighters in the history of the uprising.
France has also lost five soldiers to roadside bombs in recent weeks.