Mali PM offers condolences after teenagers lynched

Bamako (AFP) - Mali's Prime Minister Modibo Keita has offered his condolences to the family of two Arab teenagers who were lynched by a mob last week, and condemned their killing, a source close to the leader told AFP Wednesday.

Keita went to the boys' family home in Gao on Tuesday "to firmly condemn this form of summary justice", said the source, who accompanied the premier to the northern town for the mission.

The two teenagers were lynched and their bodies burned on Saturday in Gao by an angry mob that believed they had planted bombs in the area.

On the same day, five people -- one French, one Belgian and three Malian -- were killed by a masked gunman in a nightclub attack in the capital Bamako.

The government has not officially denied the two youths, whose exact ages are not known, were suspects.

But they came from a family that supports Bamako against a predominantly Tuareg rebellion in the restive north.

One official from the teenagers' family, Mohamed Ould Takiou, told AFP they had been "mistaken for those who planted the bombs".

While on his rare visit to Gao, Keita met local officials and the two teenagers' parents.

"We accept Prime Minister Modibo Keita's condolences. He said, in front of everyone, that no one has the right to take justice into his own hands," Takiou said.

"They were not bombers. We have accepted the government's apologies. The prime minister has called for unity and peace among communities," he said, adding that the boys were lynched after a blast that hit a nearby police station.

Images distributed online showed a mob beating the two Arab boys' bodies with sticks, and then setting fire to them.

On the day of the lynchings, a security source told AFP the teenagers had planted bombs near the Gao river police, and they were "surprised by Gao residents who burned them".

A source inside the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Gao added that "no one could intervene" because the mob was so determined to kill the youths.

On Monday, the government announced it had launched an investigation into the lynchings.