Two attacks perpetrated this Thursday on a river passenger ship and a military base in Mali left 49 civilians and 15 soldiers dead, announced the Malian Government, which attributed them to Al Qaeda and added that fifty alleged terrorists were killed by the military.
In a statement, the Malian government reported the balance of victims and declared three days of mourning in the country, starting this Friday.
According to the statement, the attacks also caused an unknown number of injuries and material damage to the ship.
Local sources informed EFE that, after the attack on the ship, soldiers from a nearby base went to the scene and clashed with the terrorists.
Perpetrated with howitzers, the attack on the ship took place between the towns of Abakoira and Zorghoi, in the center-north of the country, around eleven in the morning local time. The target was a ship from the Mali River Navigation Company (Comanaf). This is the second incident in recent days involving a vessel of this type.
On September 1, in the same region of Timbuktu, another Comanaf ship was attacked between the towns of Aka and Ingueme.
As a result, a 12-year-old boy died, an officer was seriously injured and a crew member suffered minor injuries.
The attack on the base occurred in the town of Bamba, in the northern region of Gao, and was claimed by Al Qaeda on its propaganda channel Az-Zallaqa, where it reported that terrorists had taken control of the military site.
River transport was, until these attacks, the safest means of moving between the capital Bamako and some towns in the east and north that suffer great pressure from jihadist groups loyal to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
