Bamako: Seven people were killed in northern Mali this week when nomadic and sedentary communities carried out tit-for-tat attacks over a theft, a local official and a security source said Wednesday.
Armed Tuareg nomads first attacked a Songhai camp on Sunday night, provoking a counter-attack on Monday, said a security source speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Four nomads died as well as three members of the sedentary community," said local official Omar Toure.
"It is an intercommunal conflict and a theft led to score-settling," he said without giving details.
Occasional intercommunal clashes are one of the many woes faced by residents of the vast desert region, also in the grip of a jihadist insurgency and overrun by a myriad armed groups vying for the upper hand.
