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Gunmen killed 18 civilians in two ambushes in the troubled region of central Mali, officials said Friday.
Twelve people were killed Wednesday as they were heading towards the blast that killed a soldier, said a local official to AFP. When these 12 people did not return, six members of their community started looking for them on Thursday to be killed by the same group.
The bodies of the first 12 were trapped with explosives, added a security source, although it is unclear if that was the way the second group was dead.
The series of deadly events was triggered when a Malian army vehicle carrying rations exploded near the village of Tigula, killing a soldier on Wednesday.
"After hearing the explosion, the villagers went to the scene … when terrorists intervened to execute them," said a local official from Mondoro commune, which includes Tigula.
Six others left on Thursday in search of the first group, but were also "killed by terrorists," the official said.
Another municipal source and a security official confirmed the death toll of 18 civilians.
Mali has been involved in a conflict since Islamist militias seized the north of the country in 2012 before being repulsed by French troops in 2013.
A peace agreement signed in 2015 by the Bamako government and armed groups has failed to restore stability.
A resurgence of intercommunal violence in the center and south of the country claimed the lives of 600 people, including 160 members of the Fulani community of herders who were killed in the village of Ogossagou in March.
The mbadacre took tens of thousands of demonstrators to the streets of Bamako in April, leading to the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet.
A new government is being formed.
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