Fifteen people have been killed in an attack on a Fulani village in central Mali, security and local officials said on Thursday, in a fresh bout of apparent ethnic violence in the war-torn country.

Armed men attacked Sinda village between Wednesday night and the early hours of Thursday morning, said a security official who requested anonymity, adding some victims had their throats slit in their sleep. A local elected official, who also declined to be named, said that other villagers were killed after being stopped by a group of traditional hunters known as the Dozo.