Malian President Assimi Goita survives mosque knife attack

Mali’s interim president Assimi Goita has survived a knife attack at the Great Mosque of Bamako during the Eid-al-Adha prayer.

Two men, one of whom was holding a knife, lunged at him at the mosque.

It was not clear whether he was wounded, but his security men quickly evacuated him from the scene.

His office in a statement later said he was “safe and sound.”

Goita arrived at the military camp of Kati, outside the capital, “where security has been reinforced,” the official said.

Religious Affairs Minister Mamadou Kone said a man had “tried to kill the president with a knife” but was apprehended.

Latus Toure, the director of the mosque, said the attacker ended up wounding someone else.

“The attacker was immediately overpowered by security.

Investigations are ongoing,” the presidency said.

Idrissa Kone, a caretaker at the mosque, said he had seen an attacker approach the president and the president and his security guards draw their weapons.

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