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Mali lowers estimate of village raid death toll to 35
A pile of rubble is seen in the village of Sobame Da, which was attacked overnight on Monday morning, in this still image taken from a footage released by ORTM and shot on June 10, 2019, Mali. PHOTO BY REUTERS/ORTM
12/06/2019
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's government has lowered to 35 from an initial 95 its estimate of the death toll from a recent attack on a Dogon village, the country's latest incident of ethnic violence.
In a statement broadcast on state radio on Wednesday, the government said the initial death toll announced by the village chief had combined the numbers of dead and of people missing.
Malians have grown increasingly frustrated by failures of the government of President Boubacar Keita to protect them from both jihadist onslaughts and ethnic reprisals.
Violence between Dogon hunters and Fulani herders has killed scores since January. An attack in March killed more than 150 Fulani, one of the worst acts of bloodshed in Mali's recent history; it forced a resignation by the then-prime minister and government.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; writing by Sofia Christensen and Tim Cocks; editing by Catherine Evans, Larry King)
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