Gunmen take over central Mali village

 

    

Gunmen have seized control of the Central Malian village of Boni, after a sustained attack that forced the few troops stationed there to retreat.
It is not clear which group the armed men are affiliated to.

Armed groups have invaded Mali since Islamists took advantage of an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012, to seize the North of the country.

A French-led intervention drove them back a year later, but instability has continued ever since.

There are reports that the gunmen spoke Bambara, Mali’s lingua franca during the attack.