TIMBUKTU: A child has been killed and two others injured in shelling in Timbuktu the capital of Mali, Western media reported on Sunday.
An army spokesman told media that armed terrorist groups hit the town of Timbuktu with a shell in a market near Malian Solidarity Bank. He said four civilians were taken to the hospital as a result of the incident.
A local politician said two shells fired by terrorists had landed in the city center of Timbuktu killing an 11-year-old girl.
An official said that a four-year-old girl was also among the wounded.
One of the hospital sources confirmed the death of a little girl adding that an appeal for the blood donation has also been made.
Al-Qaeda affiliated group declares war on Timbuktu
Local officials earlier said that militants had blocked the city for several days. A commander from the Al-Qaeda affiliated group known as GSIM in a message on social media this month had declared war on the Timbuktu region.
Mali has seen three coups in the past ten years and is currently ruled by a military junta. The military rulers of Mali despite the deteriorating law and order situation of the country have asked the UN’s MINUSMA mission to leave.
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MINUSMA, mission started in 2013 after separatists and rebellions broke out in northern Mali. It has so far pulled out of two bases near Timbuktu, Ber and Goundam, handing over operations to Malian authorities. The unrest has increased in Malie in recent years.
Timbuktu is one of several large northern cities that went into Tuareg rebel control and then into the hands of militants following a 2012 insurgency.
Later French and Malian troops took back the control of city but the unrest could not be stopped as jihadist groups expanded their presence from Mali into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso.
