Thirty-eight people were killed and many others wounded in attacks on two ethnic Dogon villages in central Mali, the government said Tuesday, in the latest in a cycle of violence in the volatile Sahel country.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks but Mali has seen a spate of massacres this year between ethnic Dogon and Fulani communities.

“The terrorist attacks on Monday evening targeted the villages of Gangafani and Yoro… not far from the border with Burkina Faso. The official provisional toll is 38 dead and numerous people wounded,” the Malian government said in a statement.

“Defence and security forces have been dispatched to the location to protect the population and their property and to track down the assailants of these attacks,” the statement added, revising upwards an earlier toll of 14 dead..