• Raiders kill at least 20 civilians in attacks on villages.
• A UN peacekeeper is killed in a mine explosion in the region.
• The region has been subjected to regular attacks over the past decade.

Raiders in Mali have killed at least 20 civilians in attacks on villages near the northern town of Gao, while a UN peacekeeper died in a mine explosion in the troubled region.

“Criminal terrorists” on Saturday killed at least 20 civilians in several hamlets in the commune Anchawadj, a few dozen kilometers north of Gao, said a senior police officer who asked to remain anonymous.

A local official blamed the attacks on jihadists put the death toll at 24, saying the killings occurred at Ebak some 35 kilometers (23 miles) north of Gao and neighboring hamlets.

Read more:UN peacekeeper killed in Mali mine blast: UN

The situation in Anchawadj as “very concerning,” and civilians were fleeing the area fearing further violence, he added.

Following Saturday’s bloodshed, a mine killed a UN peacekeeper Sunday as he was out on patrol in the north of the country, the head of the UN’s MINUSMA Mali force El Ghassim Wane tweeted.

A MINUSMA official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the peacekeeper was part of the Guinean contingent.

The region has been the subjected to regular attacks over the past decade since armed separatist rebels rose up against the government.

Although the two sides eked out a peace accord in 2015, it has yet to be applied.

Mali’s weak, national government faces both separatist and jihadist insurgencies in the north of the country.

As well as the rebel groups who were part of the stalled 2015 peace deal, Mali’s government also has to contend with jihadist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the north of the country.

Read more:French army quits Mali base ahead of total pullout

They target those they deem to be supporters of the state apparatus.

Some of the rebel groups have also been fighting each other as they battle for influence and territory.

Adding to the volatile mix in a country that suffered coups in August 2020 and May 2021 are traffickers and other criminal groups in a largely desert region that is all but devoid of state infrastructure.