Over 40 Civilians Killed in Attacks on Camps in Mali’s Menaka Region

FP News Desk

Oct 20, 2026, 06:42:23 IST

Gunmen on motorcycles stormed camps housing mainly Daoussahak civilians in the Menaka region of north-eastern Mali over the weekend, killing more than 40 people, security and community sources told AFP on Monday. The community’s executive bureau blamed the Islamic State group.

The camps lie about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the town of Menaka, in or around the village of Tinabow and the Tagadayat area.

Differing death tolls

Sources gave different figures. A security source in Gao said “about 40 deaths, mostly men”. Another security source spoke of “fifty civilians killed, including young people and the elderly”, adding that people fleeing the violence were reaching Menaka on Monday. A local elected official cited “more than 50 dead, including women and the elderly”. The Daoussahak community’s executive bureau said “48 civilians were killed” on Sunday in Tagadayat.

“Armed men stormed several camps 50 kilometers from the town of Menaka,” one security source told AFP. “They fired at anything that moved,” the source said.

A local source in Tinabow said that on Sunday evening “several dozen motorcycles suddenly arrived and (the attackers) began shooting and setting homes on fire”. The source added, “They didn’t speak to anyone. They just started killing. I saw dozens of bodies.”

Community appeals for aid; possible motive

The Daoussahak executive bureau condemned the “massacre” in a statement and appealed for emergency humanitarian aid for the displaced.

The Gao-based security source said the attack was carried out “in retaliation for military operations carried out in the area recently and for attacks by the MSA”. The Daoussahak community is where the armed Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) originated, according to the sources, and the MSA is aligned with Mali’s ruling government in Bamako.

The Malian army said it had conducted operations in the same area on Saturday, about 65 kilometres south-west of Menaka. It said it struck “a major base housing several terrorist elements and military equipment”.

A country in crisis since 2012

Mali has been beset since 2012 by a security crisis pitting the army and its Russian allies against jihadist fighters, Tuareg separatist groups and criminal gangs. Economic instability has fuelled the crisis. The junta that has ruled Mali since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021 has turned to Russia for support, using paramilitaries from the Wagner Group, which became the Africa Corps in 2025.