BAMAKO, Mali >> Recent attacks by jihadi rebels in central Mali have killed 132 civilians, the government announced Monday.

The killings happened when several villages in the Bankass area were attacked on Saturday and Sunday, the government said in a statement Monday.

Three days of national mourning starting Tuesday have been declared by the head of the ruling junta, Col. Assimi Goita.

The government said the attacks were carried out by jihadi rebels of the Katiba group.

The attacks had earlier been reported by Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of Bankass, the biggest town near the attacked villages.

The attacks show that Islamic extremist violence is spreading from Mali’s north to more central areas like Bankass.

For several weeks extremist rebels in central Mali have been blocking the road between the northern city of Gao and Mopti in central Mali.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali issued a statement about the attacks on Twitter saying it is concerned by “attacks against civilians in the Bandiagara region (the area of central Mali) perpetrated by extremist groups. These attacks have reportedly caused casualties and displacement of populations.”

In a separate incident, a U.N. peacekeeper died on Sunday from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device, the U.N. mission to Mali said in a statement.