BAMAKO, Mali — A weekend attack by militants affiliated to the Islamic State group killed 48 people in the Ménaka region of eastern Mali killed 48 people, a lawmaker told the Associated Press Tuesday. Fighters from Islamic State in Sahel Province, or ISSP, attacked on Sunday night into Monday morning and casualties included children and elderly, Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, a Tuareg leader and member of the National Transitional Council, said. According to Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, the armed group attacked civilians, accusing them of revealing ISSP positions to the Malian army who had been conducting a drone strike on the group. ISSP operates mostly in the Ménaka region, where it is faces stiff competition from another militant group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), and across Burkina Faso and Niger.
