AIR STRIKES on a village in northern Mali near the Algerian border killed 21 civilians, including 11 children on Sunday, a spokesman for a coalition of Tuareg-majority pro-independence groups said.

If confirmed, the attack on the village of Tinzaouatine would mark the largest number of civilians killed by drones since the breakdown of a peace agreement between the country’s ruling military regime and armed pro-independence groups in northern Mali last year.

The Strategic Framework for the Defence of the People of Azawad is a coalition of Tuareg-majority groups fighting for the independence of northern Mali, which they call Azawad.