Mali: Families anxious over safety of Indians kidnapped in the country

Armed assailants abducted three Indian men from their place of work in Mali last week.

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India's foreign ministry said the men, who worked in a cement factory in Mali, were "forcibly taken" by a group of "armed assailants" last Tuesday.

The Mali government is yet to comment, but the abductions took place on a day an al-Qaeda linked group - Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) - claimed it had carried out several attacks in the African country.

According to government data, some 400 Indians live in Mali, a country that India has had trade relations with since the 1990s.

Last week's incident comes after five Indian citizens were kidnapped in Niger, in April during an attack by armed men who also killed a dozen soldiers, Reuters news agency reported. There's no update on their whereabouts.