Gunmen kill at least 23 in an attack on a village in central Mali

By BABA AHMED
Associated Press

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Local officials in central Mali say gunmen killed at least 23 people and wounded a dozen others in an attack on a village. They said unidentified armed men swept into the village of Yarou, shot civilians, set fire to buildings, and stole cattle on Friday. A jihadist insurgency has beset the West African nation since 2012, the same year armed rebels began launching attacks in the north. Friday’s attack comes the same day that a rocket struck the western city of Timbuktu, where for the past two weeks armed groups linked with al-Qaida have imposed a blockade to protest the arrival of Malian and foreign troops in the area.