No fewer than seven people were killed on Sunday in an attack in central Mali.

The diocese of the Mopti region said the attack in Segue village claimed the life of a relative of a cleric and six other men.

A statement by the diocese secretary and priest, Daniel Camille Togo, said the assault also caused a lot of property damage.

A civil society group, the Patriotic Movement for the Unity and Safeguarding of the Bankass Cercle, expressed shock over the terrorist attack, which hit both Segue and Sonfounou villages.

“The toll of this deadly attack has risen to nine deaths, seven in Segue and two in Sonfounou.

“The clinic, the village pharmacy and the ambulance were set on fire, the private car of the mayor (of Segue) burned and multiple motorbikes taken away,” the group said.

DAILY POST reports that Mali is battling a political, security and economic crisis and has been ravaged by Al-Qaeda and Islamic State group factions since 2012.

It also faces a separatist insurgency in the volatile desert north.