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Concerns about security in Mali have deepened since former colonizer France recently announced the withdrawal of its troops.
A vehicle transporting a Red Cross team came under a hail of gunfire in western Mali, killing a worker and the car’s driver, the Malian and Dutch Red Cross organizations have said.
Witnesses said the attackers were riding motorcycles when they shot at the vehicle at about 6pm on Wednesday near Kayes, the aid organization said.
The vehicle was clearly marked with the group’s emblem, they added. Two other employees survived the ambush.
“The Malian Red Cross condemns this incident with the utmost firmness, which undermines the humanitarian mission aimed at vulnerable populations,” the aid group said in a statement announcing the deaths.
“Disbelief and sadness,” the Dutch Red Cross said on Twitter. “Two Red Cross aid workers have been killed in an armed attack in Mali. One of them was an employee of the Dutch Red Cross. Our flag is at half-mast. Aid workers should never be the target. ”
A spokeswoman said the Dutch Red Cross worker was not a Dutch citizen.
“This is terrible news and it touches us deeply. First of all, our thoughts go out to the family members and everyone who knew the affected aid workers, ”said Marieke van Schaik, director of the Dutch Red Cross.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though armed groups are known to operate in the vicinity.
For more than a decade, deadly armed groups have been active in Mali and much of the country has long been considered off-limits to Westerners for security reasons. While the Kayes region has been less risky than Mali’s north, there have been growing reports of extremism spreading in the area linked to a group known as Katiba Macina.
Concerns about security in Mali have only deepened since February when former colonizer France announced the imminent withdrawal of its troops fighting the armed groups in the country.
The country’s military is still being aided by a large UN peacekeeping mission that comes under frequent attack from armed groups.
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