AT LEAST 26 people were killed when an armed group attacked a village in central Mali near the border with Burkina Faso, according to a government official.

In the latest violent attack in the conflict-torn region, the gunmen attacked villagers on Sunday evening as most of them worked on their farmlands in the village of Dembo, Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of Bankass town, where Dembo is located, said the following day.

Such attacks are becoming increasingly frequent in central Mali, while the country’s military junta also is struggling to contain violence in the northern region.

No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, but the blame quickly fell on JNIM, an extremist group linked to al-Qaida that often targets villagers in the region in a similar manner.

A rebel attack on a a wedding ceremony killed at least 21 people earlier this month.

The armed violence across central and northern Mali has raged for more than a decade. 

Extremists, who were once forced from power in northern cities with the help of recently expelled French troops, have regrouped and launched attacks on remote villages and security forces.

A 2015 peace deal with ethnic Tuareg rebels active in the north has also collapsed, deepening the security crisis.