UAV event in Douentza, Douna area, Mali on Sat 23rd March 2024

In Mali, a drone strike by the Malian army killed around ten children on the night of Saturday March 23 to Sunday March 24. This happened in the village of Douna, commune of Mondoro, region of Douentza, not far from the border with Burkina Faso. According to local sources contacted by RFI, it was a Koranic school that was struck.

Fourteen dead, mainly children of the Dogon ethnic group: according to several local civilian sources, notables and community representatives, this drone strike occurred around 10 p.m. Traditionally, in this part of Mali , students of Koranic schools study very early in the morning, and very late in the evening, around the fire. That’s when the drone released its munitions.

The images received by RFI are difficult to support: they show deformed, bloody bodies of children... Nine injured were reportedly evacuated to the Mopti-Sévaré hospital. 

“ These blunders must stop!” » This comment is not that of a villager from Douna but of a Malian security source, contacted in Bamako, who confirms this new tragedy and assures that " voices are being raised ", including within the Malian forces of security, against these recurring targeting errors during drone strikes. 

Just a week ago, 14 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Amasrakad , Gao region. 

Meanwhile, other strikes were carried out in northern Mali. Some sources assure that civilians were killed, information that RFI was unable to formally verify.

The village of Douna is located further south, in central Mali, in an area where residents have long suffered the yoke of the jihadists of Jnim, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, linked to al-Qaeda. .

Requested by RFI, the Malian army did not respond, and did not publish any press release on this strike.