巴马科，马里——当地人权活动人士和一个分离主义武装组织周三表示，本周早些时候，马里军方在靠近毛里塔尼亚边境地区发动了一次夜间无人机袭击，造成至少13名平民死亡。
BAMAKO, Mali — At least 13 civilians were killed in an overnight drone strike by Mali’s military earlier this week near the border with Mauritania, local human rights activists and a separatist armed group said Wednesday.
马里军方周三在一份声明中表示，其打击目标是“藏身聚集”的恐怖分子。十多年来，马里一直饱受与基地组织有关联的武装分子（包括“支持伊斯兰与穆斯林”联盟）以及隶属于伊斯兰国组织的武装人员的困扰，北部还存在着图阿雷格分离主义叛乱。
The Malian military said in a statement Wednesday that it had targeted terrorists “gathered under cover.”Mali has been plagued for over a decade by al-Qaida-linked militants, including the JNIM alliance, and fighters affiliated with the Islamic State group , as well as a Tuareg separatist rebellion in the north.
“他们特意将摩托车藏在一个与聚集地分开的偏僻地点，”军方声明说。“在确认目标后，对该阵地成功实施了打击。”一名当地人权官员表示，周日夜间至周一，在与毛里塔尼亚接壤的哈西拉格达夫镇，一个图阿雷格人的营地遭到轰炸。“炸弹击中了两顶帐篷，炸死了13名正在睡觉的人，其中包括妇女和儿童，”卡尔阿卡尔协会秘书长蒂拉·阿格·泽尼说。
“They had taken care to hide their motorcycles in an isolated location separate from their gathering place,” the military statement said. “After confirming the target, the position was successfully struck.”A local human rights official said a Tuareg camp was bombed overnight Sunday into Monday in the town of Hassi Laghdaf near the border with Mauritania. “The bombs struck two tents and killed 13 people in their sleep, including women and children,” Tilla Ag Zeini, secretary-general of the Kal Akal Association, said.
阿格·泽尼说，这些摩托车属于图阿雷格社区的一个平民家庭，他称这个家庭是“和平的”。马里北部分离主义武装组织阿扎瓦德解放阵线的发言人穆罕默德·埃尔毛卢德·拉马达内在社交媒体上发布了据称显示袭击后帐篷残骸的图片，以及一份据报在袭击中丧生的人员名单。美联社无法立即核实这些照片。
Ag Zeini said the motorcycles belonged to a family of civilians from the Tuareg community, which he described as “peaceful.”Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for the Azawad Liberation Front — the armed separatist group in northern Mali — posted images on social media allegedly showing what remained of the tents after the attack, along with a list of people reportedly killed in the strikes. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the photos.
人权观察在本月早些时候的一份报告中表示，马里武装部队及其盟友为应对伊斯兰主义者和分离主义武装组织日益增多的袭击，在马里中部和北部开展了滥用武力的平叛行动，常常伤及平民。
Malian armed forces and their allies have responded to mounting attacks by Islamist and separatist armed groups with abusive counterinsurgency operations in central and northern Mali that often harm civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report earlier this month.
声明还补充说，冲突各方“都在犯下严重的战争法违规行为”，“平民正在承受马里军政府未能约束其暴虐部队和盟友所带来的主要冲击”。这个内陆国家是萨赫勒地区的一部分，该地区是撒哈拉沙漠以南的一片广阔地带，近年来已成为极端主义暴力的重灾区。
It added that all sides of the conflict “are committing grave laws-of-war violations” and that “civilians are bearing the brunt of the Mali junta’s failure to rein in its abusive forces and allies.”The landlocked country is part of the Sahel, a vast strip of land south of the Sahara Desert that has become the epicenter of extremist violence in recent years.