Army captain shot dead in northern Mali

By Mohamed Ag Ahmedou

BAMAKO, Mali (AA) – A captain of the Malian army was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Timbuktu in northern Mali Sunday night, a military source told Anadolu Agency late Monday.

According to a Malian officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media,"Hamatta Ag Oumalha, a Tuareg military captain of the Malian army was shot dead by four armed men… who came on a motorcycle while he was outside his home in Hamabangou, a popular neighborhood in Timbuktu.”

The military has launched a probe into the incident.

The West African state recently extended a state of emergency in the country for eight months from August 1 to March 2017 due to persistence of terrorist threats.

Tensions erupted in Mali in 2012 following a failed coup and a Tuareg rebellion that ultimately allowed al-Qaeda-linked militant groups to take over the northern half of the country.

In early 2013, former colonial power France, the UN, Chad and other African countries sent peacekeeping troops to Mali to fight militants from the country's main northern cities.