A West African armed group affiliated to al-Qaida set fire to fuel tankers in Mali over the weekend, videos showed, as the militants sought to tighten their grip on the country’s economy by banning fuel imports from neighboring countries. The trucks were coming from Ivory Coast and were attacked in Sikasso region in the south of the country, according to a security source in Sikasso who confirmed the videos to The Associated Press. Last week, the spokesperson for the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) announced the blockade on Mali in a video posted online. Mali’s transport ministry is meeting with representatives of transportation associations to discuss “these threats and find solutions,” a ministry spokesperson said. JNIM is one of several armed groups operating in the Sahel, a vast strip of semi-arid desert stretching from North Africa to West Africa, which has been a site for a rapidly growing insurgency that has made the region a hot spot for militant attacks.

Full report : Armed group linked to al-Qaida sets fuel trucks ablaze as it blockades imports to Mali.