At least 70 to 80 people have been killed in a wave of jihadist attacks in the Mopti region of central Mali, according to local officials and security sources. The violence began on Wednesday 6 May, when suspected jihadist fighters attacked two villages, killing at least 30 people including residents and members of traditional hunters' militias known as dozos. On Friday 8 May, the same armed groups returned and struck virtually the same villages again, this time targeting exclusively civilians. In total, concordant sources put the death toll at between 70 and 80 people over the two days of attacks.

The attacks were claimed by JNIM — the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated organisation — which said it was targeting villages that had refused to sign local agreements requiring them to abide by jihadist law. A security source described the situation in the region as "worrying," adding that JNIM was systematically punishing communities that resisted its authority. Among the victims were adolescents and children. A local youth leader expressed outrage that nearby army detachments had failed to intervene despite repeated calls for help. Mali's National Human Rights Commission condemned the attacks and urged the state to fulfil its obligation to protect civilians.

The Mopti region sits in central Mali, a landlocked West African country that has been gripped by a multifaceted security crisis since 2012, driven by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, as well as Tuareg separatist movements from the north. The current wave of violence follows an unprecedented coordinated assault on 25 and 26 April, in which JNIM and the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) struck strategic sites belonging to Mali's ruling military junta, including targets in the capital Bamako. That attack killed at least 23 people, including the defence minister. Since then, armed groups have tightened a blockade on key roads into Bamako, burning passenger buses and cutting off supplies to the capital. Because Mali has no sea access and relies on land imports, the road closures are adding significant economic pressure.

Despite the escalation, the Malian government has ruled out any negotiations. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop stated that Bamako had no intention of entering into dialogue with what he described as "terrorist armed groups" devoid of morality. Authorities have also carried out a wave of arrests targeting political opponents and military figures in recent days, though the identities and exact number of those detained remain difficult to verify. The crisis has its roots partly in longstanding intercommunal tensions in central Mali between farming communities and pastoralists, particularly the Fulani, a large ethnic group spread across West Africa, many of whose young men have joined Al-Qaeda's Macina Battalion since 2015.

The deepening insecurity underscores the fragility of Mali's security situation since French forces withdrew in 2022 and the junta turned to Russia for military support, including fighters from the Wagner Group. Critics argue that neither foreign military partnership has succeeded in pushing back the armed groups, which continue to expand their territorial hold — particularly in the north — while inflicting heavy civilian casualties in the centre of the country.