Security forces free senior official and journalist from Jihadists

A senior Government official and a journalist who had been abducted by Jihadists last year have been released.

Makan Doumbia who was popularly known as ‘the prefect of Tenenkou commune’ in central Mali was successfully freed after a security operation.

An official who declined to give his full names has claimed that Doumbia was freed under a prisoner exchange.

Malian journalist Issiaka Tamboura, who was also kidnapped alongside Makan Doumbia was released and taken to hospital, a media sources has revealed.

However, elsewhere in the Mopti region, four hostages taken by jihadists were killed at Toguere-Koumbe last week, according to Kisal, a rights group for nomadic communities.

Militias linked to Al-Qaeda seized the north of Mali in 2012, but were pushed back by French troops the following year.