Two armed men, including one wielding a knife, attacked Mali’s interim president Assimi Goïta on Tuesday in the Great Mosque in the capital Bamako, an AFP journalist who witnessed the event said.

The attack took place during prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.

Goïta has since been taken from the scene, according to the journalist, who said it was not immediately clear whether he had been wounded.

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

Latus Toure, the director of the Great Mosque, said an attacker had lunged for the president but wounded someone else.

AFP was not immediately able to confirm the accounts.

Source: Websites