Mali denies journo killed in Gao
2013-01-21 12:20
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Mali
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Bamako - The Malian government has denied a journalist was
killed in the northern town of Gao, which has been held by Islamists for nearly
nine months.
"The information is wrong, Boul Kader Toure is alive
and we are happy," the government said in a statement late on Sunday.
The government had on Saturday denounced the reported
killing as a "cowardly and odious assassination".
Sema Maiga, a deputy of Gao's mayor, had said the Islamists
beat local journalist Kader Toure to death after accusing him of "working
for the enemy", adding that residents then "killed an Islamist chief
called Alioune Toure".
Gao has been under the control of Islamist militants from the
Movement for Oneness and Jihad (Mujao) who imposed a harsh form of Islamic law
that included the amputation of the hands of thieves.
An official from Gao told AFP that the Islamist chief had
been beaten up badly by angry residents but had survived.
