DAKAR, Senegal
Militants affiliated to Islamic State group have taken Tidermene in Mali, further isolating the regional capital, Menaka, in a region that has fallen almost entirely under their control, officials and witnesses told AFP on Wednesday.
Tidermene's fall follows
months of fighting by Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, or ISGS, to seize
the northeastern village of a few thousand inhabitants about 75 kilometers
north of Menaka.
All the region's main
administrative subdivisions are now under the group's control.
The village was captured
Monday night.
"Tidermene has fallen
into the hands of Daesh," an elected official from the town, who has
retreated to Menaka, told AFP, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State
organization.
"They are distributing
Qurans to the population [and] moving around town with weapons," he said.
He and others spoke on
condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Another elected official told
AFP the militants had instructed the village's residents to continue with
business as usual, but to be prepared to begin paying "zakat," an
Islamic tax.
A major ISGS offensive has
been underway since early 2022 in the region of Menaka and that of Gao, further
west.
The regions have seen intense
battles between ISGS fighters and the al Qaida-linked Group to Support Islam
and Muslims (JNIM), as well as with former Tuareg independence fighters who
signed a peace deal in 2015, and loyalists who once fought the independence
fighters.
The militants have stepped
into a vacuum left when French forces departed last year, experts say.
Hundreds of civilians have
been killed in the violence, and communities have been displaced en masse.
Some have fled across the
border to Niger.
The U.N. and human rights
organizations say militants have carried out punitive attacks against
communities they accuse of helping the state or refusing to join their ranks.
One Tidermene refugee now in
Menaka told AFP that, given the town is a former JNIM stronghold, ISGS fighters
are now seeking out civilians who own weapons or walkie-talkies.
"The Malian army controls
Menaka and is ensuring the protection of civilians," an army officer told
AFP when asked about the capture of Tidermene.
The Malian military, the U.N.
stabilization mission and armed groups loyal to the state remain present in
Menaka.
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