Eight people were killed, and 42 were injured in Mali after a ​passenger bus carrying civilians hit a ‌land mine west of the capital Bamako, a transport union official said on Tuesday.

• The explosion happened on ​Monday on a road where al ​Qaeda-linked Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) operates and ⁠follows unprecedented assaults in April by ​JNIM in coordination with a Tuareg-dominated rebel group.
• Eight people ​died, and 42 were wounded after the bus hit the land mine on the road from Bamako ​to Kayes, Mamadou Kassambara, communications officer for ​the national drivers' union, told Reuters on Tuesday.
• Africa Corps, ‌a ⁠Russian paramilitary group operating in Mali, said in a social media post late on Monday that five people had been killed ​and more than ​10 ⁠were injured in the incident. It blamed JNIM.
• Nobody has claimed responsibility ​for laying the land mine.
• JNIM announced ​a ⁠blockade on Bamako following the April attacks and has set up checkpoints on some major ⁠roads ​to the city.
• West Africa's Sahel ​region has become a global hotspot of terrorism.