BAMAKO, Mali (AA) – A Malian politician has been shot dead in an attack being linked to terrorism by the country’s security forces.
Kola Dia, a member of parliament and deputy mayor of Wuro-Mody town, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Mopti, central Mali, security sources told Anadolu Agency late Monday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity the source added: “We still do not know the motive for the killing but according to the first elements in our possession, this is a murder committed by terrorists,” adding that Mali has seen repeated terrorist attacks recently.
In May, five Togolese UN peacekeepers were killed and another was seriously injured when unidentified gunmen ambushed them in central Mali. Two Malian army officers also lost their lives the same month in an ambush between Hombori (Mopti) and Gossi (Timbuktu), in the north of the country.
The perpetrators of these attacks usually remain unidentified, but suspicions weigh on terrorist groups which took control of the northern part of the country in 2012.
Violence broke out in the north following a failed coup attempt and a Tuareg rebellion which allowed al-Qaeda-linked militants to take over some Malian regions.
In early 2013, former colonial power France sent troops and, with the help of Chadian and other African forces, flushed Islamist militants from Mali’s main northern cities.
