Gunmen attacked a wedding in central Mali on Monday evening, massacring at least 21 people, local residents told The Associated Press.

The gang rode into the town where the wedding was held on motorbikes and quickly surrounded the attendees and outlets. report.

“Most of the victims had their throats slit,” Bakari Ghindo, a local youth leader, told The Associated Press. JNIMThe media said it was an al-Qaeda-affiliated group that frequently carries out attacks in the region. As of Wednesday morning, no group had claimed responsibility for the heinous act. (Related article: Pentagon quietly withdraws training plans with military of country suspected of coups and serious human rights abuses)

JNIM (Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen) was formed in 2017. according to The group's goal is to drive international forces (such as the UN and France) out of the country and establish an Islamic state, according to the media.

Communities in northern and central Mali have been suffering from extremist violence since 2012, according to the media. Extremist rebels were ousted from power in northern Mali cities in 2013 with the backing of French troops, but those groups have since regrouped and launched new attacks, the Associated Press reported.

Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world according to In the 2024 report BTIThe country is ranked “bottom of the World Development Index.” A military junta took power in 2020 and, after a short-lived caretaker government, returned to power in 2021. This is the fourth military junta in the country's history, according to the BTI.