Gunmen kidnap 20 in Mali

BAMAKO: Gunmen seized about 20 people in volatile central Mali, with nine remaining in detention on Wednesday after their captors released the other hostages, local and security officials said.

The kidnapping occurred on Tuesday during a weekly market in the village of Farabougou, near the central Malian town of Niono, according to Boukary Coulibaly, the village chief.

A youngster was killed during the kidnapping, he said, adding that the "armed men" afterwards released some hostages, mostly women and children. Mali has been struggling to quell a Jihadist insurgency which emerged in 2012 and has since spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.