11 people dead & dozens injured as bus EXPLODES in fireball & flips onto roof in Mali
A HORROR bus blast has left 11 people dead and dozens injured in Mali.
Officials say at least 53 people were injured after the bus was hit by an explosive device in the Mopti area on Thursday and exploded in a massive fireball.
The explosion happened on the road between Bandiagara and Goundaka in the Mopti area in the early afternoon, a security source said.
The region is known as a hotbed for jihadist violence.
Earlier, police and local sources gave a provisional toll of 10 dead and many seriously injured.
Moussa Housseyni of the local Bandiagara Youth Association said: "We have just transferred nine bodies to the clinic. And it's not over yet."
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Mali has long struggled with a jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are among the jihadists' weapons of choice.
They can explode on impact or be detonated remotely.
A report by MINUSMA, the UN mission in Mali, found that mines and IEDs had caused 72 deaths in 2022.
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Most of the victims were soldiers -- but more than a quarter were civilians, it said.
Last year, 103 people were killed and 297 injured by IEDs and mines.