Two people have been killed and five others injured after mortar shells were fired on the historic city of Timbuktu in Mali's northern region Thursday (September 21).
According to Malian military officials, the shelling was done by jihadist "terrorists" besieging the UNESCO world heritage site in recent weeks, which reportedly led to food shortages.
"The city of Timbuktu has come under terrorist shellfire this afternoon," Malian military officials said in a statement Thursday.
It was alleged that the al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) was responsible for the attack as they declared "war in the Timbuktu region" last August.
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Malian Junta's Struggle with Jihadists
Mali's military seized power in 2020 after accusing the civilian government of failing to deal with the insurgency in the country, the BBC reported.
Despite pledging to end the decade-long militant attacks, the junta has been unable to do so, and in recent months, has even increased.
A few weeks ago, 49 people died when a river boat in Mali's northeast was ambushed.
Another militant attack was attempted Thursday at Léré, 240 km southwest of Timbuktu, which resulted in the deaths of five militants.
Five soldiers were also killed Sunday (September 17) after two military camps were raided and captured by ethnic Tuareg rebels.
The situation only got worse when the Malian junta requested the United Nations to pull out its peacekeeping forces, which have been in the country since 2013.
France also withdrew its forces last year as authorities replaced them with contractors from the Wagner Group.
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