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BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — An armed group allied with Mali's army has attacked a town in the country's north, a Tuareg rebel group and an official said Monday.
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad said in a statement that another Tuareg militia attacked Menaka, a town they held, and took a dozen people as prisoners. An official with the U.N. mission in Mali confirmed the attacks, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't permitted to speak to the press.
The NMLA called the act "unacceptable," because it comes after a cease-fire was re-affirmed on Feb. 19 between the government and rebel groups. The violence also comes weeks before a peace accord is expected to be signed in Bamako, Mali's capital.
Algeria has mediated several rounds of peace talks between the Malian government and Tuaregs, searching for a political system that could include both.
In 2012, Tuareg rebel groups seized control of northern Mali, which they call Azawad, only for al-Qaida-linked militants to wrest control shortly afterward. Since then, the impoverished West African country has been in turmoil. Troops from France — the former colonial overseer in Mali — swooped in to disperse the al-Qaida-linked extremists. The U.N. peacekeeping mission later followed, and sporadic violence continues to trouble the region.
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