Not less than 24 persons were reportedly killed after a vehicle drove over a landmine in the town of Boni in Central Mali.

 

Malian Army spokesman, Colonel Diarran Kone told journalists that the vehicle had crossed the volatile border with neigbouring Burkina Faso where militants loyal to Islamic State are known to operate when it ran over the mine.

 

The Army had earlier put the figure of deceased victims at 13 but Abdoulaye Chieck, who lost a child in the blast said up to 24 have so far been buried.

 

“We just buried the dead. There are finally 24 of them, including four babies with their mother and another seven people from the same family,” Cheick said.

 

Malian security sources have blamed the blast on terrorists who have in the past three years, been destabilizing the sparcely populated desert north of country.

 

This is however not the first time a civilian bus has hit a mine. In November last year, five civilians were killed when the bus they were travelling in hit a mine.