More than 30 people were killed Wednesday in two attacks on two towns in central Mali claimed by JNIM jihadists, AFP learned Thursday from local, security and administrative sources.

"At least 35 people were killed Wednesday in near-simultaneous attacks" targeting the towns of Korikori and Gomossogou (central Mali), a local youth leader told AFP. Two security and administrative sources each gave AFP a death toll of more than 30 in the attacks, which were claimed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), who said they targeted pro-government militias.

Wamaps, a collective of West African journalists specializing in security issues in the Sahel, has established a "provisional toll" of "more than 50 villagers" killed and others "still missing".

According to Wamaps, "villages were looted and some concessions were burned down" in these attacks.

The Malian army said on Thursday that it had conducted "a targeted operation against armed terrorist groups" in the area, which "neutralized about ten terrorists", in a statement that did not give further details.

This massacre comes after large-scale coordinated attacks carried out on April 25 and 26 by JNIM, allied with Al-Qaeda, and the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front (ALF) rebellion against strategic junta positions in several localities, including the capital Bamako.

Several towns and villages in the north are now under the control of jihadists and their allies in the FLN. Defense Minister Sadio Camara, 47, a key figure in the junta, was killed in a suicide bombing in Kati, a stronghold of the military regime aligned with Bamako, in attacks that left at least 23 dead, according to a hospital source.

Mali has been facing a deep security crisis since 2012, fueled in particular by violence from jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), but also by attacks from Tuareg separatists and community criminal groups.

On April 30, JNIM jihadists called for a broad "common front" to "put an end to the junta", with a view to "a peaceful and inclusive transition" in Mali, which has been led by the military since 2020 after a double coup.