Spate of violence leaves at least 30 dead in Mali
At least 30 people, including nine soldiers, have been killed in three separate incidents in Mali.
Twenty one were killed when gunmen attacked a village in central Mali, burning houses, crops and livestock.
Several eight soldiers also died in an ambush, while another was killed during an attack on a military camp in the Gao region.
Mali has been blighted by instability since 2012 when an Islamist rebellion broke out in the north.
The village of Ogossagou, where among Friday's attacks occurred, is mainly home to Fulanis, a largely-Muslim ethnic group who traditionally are herders.
Other ethnic groups in Mali - like the Dogon community - accuse the Fulani to be associated with jihadi groups operating over the Sahel region.
These accusations have fuelled a spate of inter-ethnic violence recently.
Last March, 160 persons were killed another attack at Ogossagou, which authorities blamed it on a Dogon militia.
The attack resulted in several protests over perceived inaction by the federal government, and Mali's prime minster at that time, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, later resigned.
No-one has claimed responsibility for the most recent incident, but village chief Aly Ousmane Barry told local media that the gunmen struck a long time after government troops had withdrawn from the region.
In another incident, Malian security forces said on Twitter that that they had sustained "material damage" during an ambush in the village of Bintia, which killed eight soldiers.
A ninth soldier was killed in another attack at a camp in Mondoro, which is regularly targeted by militants.
Since 2012, Malian forces were able to regain control large swathes of territory taken by militants with assistance help from France, which includes 4,500 troops deployed in your community. The UN has 13,000 peacekeeping troops in Mali.
But thousands of lives have already been lost as Mali struggles to contain the violence, which includes spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Combating militants in the Sahel region sometimes appears as important for maintaining security further afield, including Europe.
France's Foreign Minister, Florence Parly, travelled to Washington last month in the hopes of persuading American to keep its logistical backing - drones, intelligence and transport - which she said was crucial to the French operation.
