Mali, on Thursday, has began a three-day national mourning, to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack.
The attack that took place in Sobanou left 35 people dead, the government announced in a statement made public on Wednesday evening.
“The President of the Republic has declared a national mourning of three days, beginning on Thursday, June 13, 2019 at midnight, across the country, in tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack perpetrated on June 10 2019 against the people of the village of Sobanou in the rural community of Sangha, Bandiagara Circle, Mopti Region,” the statement said, adding that during this period the flags will be at half-mast on all public buildings.
In addition, the governor of Mopti, the region to which Sobanou belongs, has been sacked, the government says, insisting that this measure is in line with the “lessons” drawn from the Sobanou “drama.” The governor, Sidi Alassane Toure, has been in the hot seat since the mass killings intensified in the center of the country at the beginning of the year.
Well before the Sobanou massacre last Sunday, Ogassagou, another village in central Mali was on March 23, the scene of an attack in which 160 people died. Previously, 39 people were killed on January 1, 2019 in an attack on Koulogon, another village in central Mali.
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