BAMAKO (Reuters) - Suspected jihadists killed 40 Tuaregs, mostly young men, in two attacks in northern Mali’s Menaka region, which the local governor said seemed calculated to spark an ethnic conflict between Tuareg and Fulani herders. Menaka governor Daouda Maiga told Reuters by telephone that the attacks happened in the remote desert villages of Awakassa on Friday and in Anderanboucane, a day earlier. Islamic State’s Saharan affiliate is active in the Menaka region bordering Niger. It is led by an Arabic-speaking north African called Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, but the majority of its fighters are Fulani. “The MSA is fighting the Islamist groups, which are composed mostly of Fulani,” Maiga said.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 28, 2018 19:03 UTC