03/05/2021 Mali (International Christian Concern) – On Sunday, suspected Islamist extremists killed nine people in three separate attacks in central Mali, reports Reuters.
The insurgents, armed with machine guns and riding on 4x4s, “attacked, set fires and stole cattle,” deputy major Yacouba Kassogué told the news agency.
Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby city of Bankass, blamed the assaults on the same group of militants who killed eight people on February 28th during attacks on the Malian military pose and gendarme base.
“Mali has been in crisis since Islamist militants seized its desert north in 2012, forcing France to intervene the following year to push them back,” wrote Reuters staff, “But they have regrouped and extended their operations into central Mali and neighbouring countries in West Africa’s Sahel region.”
Open Doors listed Mali as the 28th most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian. Islamic extremists have been able to overtake areas with weak governmental leadership and have capitalized on vulnerabilities created by COVID-19. Please pray for Mali’s leaders to fight for religious freedom, for the Lord to strengthen and multiply the country’s Christian community, and for Jihadist groups to repent and accept the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
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