An attack on a Malian village kills 100 people

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Nearly 100 people were killed during an attack in a village in central Mali, inhabited by the Dogon ethnic group, officials said.

The attack took place in Sobame Da, near the town of Sanga, in the Mopti region.

The search for the bodies is under way, but officials say that 95 people were found dead and many bodies were burned.

There have been numerous attacks in Mali in recent months, some ethnic, others perpetrated by jihadist groups.

Clashes between Dogon hunters and Fulani pastoralists are common.

The Malian government said "suspected terrorists" attacked the village around 03:00 local time. At least 19 people were still missing, he added.

Bankbad mayor Moulaye Guindo told the Reuters news agency that Fulanis in the district had attacked Sobane-Kou after dark.

"Fifty heavily armed men arrived on motorbikes and pick-ups," a survivor who called Amadou Togo told AFP. "They first encircled the village and then attacked, and anyone who tried to escape was killed."

"No one has been spared – women, children, elderly people," he added.

No group officially declared that he was responsible for the attack.

"At the present time, we have 95 dead civilians, the bodies are burned, we continue to search for others," said a local official to AFP.

What is the Dogon-Fulani conflict?

The Dogon people have lived in central Mali for centuries and live as a peasant is a largely traditional way of life.

On the other hand, many Peuls are semi-nomadic herders who travel long distances in West Africa.

Frictions between resource-strapped farmers and ranchers have been going on for a long time – but clashes between them have intensified since the militant Islamist uprising in northern Mali in 2012.

Both parties accuse the other of having perpetrated attacks in the midst of the unrest.

The Fulani, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, have been accused of having links to the Islamist uprising. For their part, the Fulani accuse a Dogon self-defense badociation, Dan Na Ambbadagou, to take it to them.

Is this attack unusual?

The attack on Sobame Da killed about a third of its inhabitants.

In March, in the same region, more than 130 Fulani villagers were killed by armed men wearing the traditional clothes of the Dogon hunters.

In March, more than 130 people were killed in an attack on the villages of Ogossagou and Welingara

After the attack, the Dogon Dan Na Ambbadagou was banned by the government of Mali.

But the organization, which claims to be a self-defense group and has nothing to do with the killings, has refused calls for the removal of weapons.

In a report dated May 31, the UN mission in Mali said that the security situation in central Mali "continued to deteriorate".

Clashes between the Dogon and Fulani have been "exacerbated by the presence of extremist groups" and the central region has recorded the highest number of attacks against civilians.

Hundreds of people have been killed so far this year.

What effect did the Islamist uprising have?

There are several Islamist groups based in northern Mali. In 2013, they seized half of the country and moved to the capital, Bamako.

France, the former colonial power in Mali and some neighboring African countries, intervened and pushed Islamist groups back to their strongholds in the Sahara Desert.

Before the disturbances, disputes between the Fulani and the Dogon were often settled by negotiation.

But the uprising – which had spread to central Mali in 2015 – has reduced government control and increased the availability of weapons.