The community of Tonka is in mourning after jihadist militants executed a well-known local butcher in broad daylight. Abdoulaye Tandina, known affectionately as Badou “Wayé” (“the butcher” in Songhai) by residents, was a fixture of Tonka’s marketplace for decades.

Witnesses describe how armed men approached him at the market where he sold his cuts of meat on Monday evening. Without a word, they dragged him away and shot him near the roadside—a brutal act that has left residents searching for answers.

Born into a long line of butchers from Tombouctou, Abdoulaye Tandina had called Tonka home for nearly 40 years. He once held the respected position of head of the city’s butchers’ guild, though sources say he had stepped back from formal duties. His daughter, who runs a shop in Tombouctou, remains profoundly shaken by his loss, according to a family friend.

What makes his killing particularly perplexing is that those who knew him insist he never displayed political affiliations. A relative revealed that Abdoulaye Tandina was a cousin of Tombouctou’s current delegation chief—the temporary municipal leader in the absence of elections. Yet even this connection fails to explain why jihadists would target him.

Tonka’s alarming pattern of targeted violence

Abdoulaye Tandina’s death marks the fourth targeted killing in Tonka over the past eight months. Earlier this year, a youth association leader was gunned down in late March, followed by the assassination of a Quranic teacher in June. Public outrage erupted in November 2025 when jihadists executed Mariam Cissé, a TikTok influencer who openly supported the Malian army.

The relentless violence has shattered the sense of security in Tonka, a town already grappling with the broader instability gripping the Tombouctou region. While authorities have remained silent on these incidents, the pattern suggests a deliberate campaign of intimidation against civilians.