2022 Bankass massacres

2022 Bankass massacres
Part of the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the Mali War
2022 Bankass massacres (Mali) Show map of Mali 2022 Bankass massacres (Africa) Show map of Africa
Location	Diallassagou and nearby villages, Bankass Cercle, Mopti Region, Mali
Coordinates	13°44′26″N 3°37′34″W
Date	18–19 June 2022
Target	Dogon people
Weapons	Automatic firearms
Deaths	132
Perpetrators	Macina Katiba
Motive	Jihad, Islamism, nomadic conflict

On 18 and 19 June 2022, 132 civilians were killed by Islamist insurgents in Bankass Cercle, Mopti Region, Mali.[1][2]

Background

During the early 2010s, an Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the Mali War began.[1] Massacres in central Mali's Mopti Region have included those in Ogossagou in March 2019, Sobane Da in June 2019 and Bankass in December 2021. The violence is also linked to nomadic conflict, with the farming Dogon people (who mostly practice traditional religion) contesting water and land with the nomadic Fula, who are mostly Muslims.[3][4]

Massacres

During 18 and 19 June 2022, a group of militants speaking Fula killed 132 civilians in Diallassagou and two surrounding towns in Bankass Cercle, Mopti Region.[1][2] The insurgents also burned huts and houses, and stole cattle.[2]

The government says that the perpetrators were Macina Katiba, an al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group headed by Fulani preacher Amadou Kouaffa, which was established in 2015.[1][2]

See also

• List of massacres in Mali

References

1. "More than 100 civilians killed in Mali attacks: Gov't". www.aljazeera.com.
2. "Suspected jihadists kill more than 130 civilians in central Mali, officials say". France 24. June 20, 2022.
3. Benjaminsen, Tor A.; Ba, Boubacar (January 2, 2021). "Fulani-Dogon Killings in Mali: Farmer-Herder Conflicts as Insurgency and Counterinsurgency". African Security. 14 (1): 4–26. doi:10.1080/19392206.2021.1925035. hdl:11250/2985276. S2CID 236553659.
4. "Mali attack: Behind the Dogon-Fulani violence in Mopti". BBC News. March 25, 2019.