Iran press/Africa: According to AFP,"suspected extremists came this Sunday around 13:30 (1330 GMT) to a polling station in Arkodia," in the restive northern Timbuktu region, the official said.
"They asked everyone to put their hands up. The polling station president tried to escape. The suspected extremists shot and killed him," the source said.
The armed men said no one could vote at the station, it added.
"Six people entered the polling station and killed the president," a security source said.
The second round of voting in Mali is a rerun of a 2013 faceoff between President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 73, and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse, 68, amid a wave of extremist bloodshed and ethnic violence.
The first round on July 29 was peppered by violence and threats from armed groups that led to several hundred polling stations being closed, mainly in the lawless central region.
Mali is high on the list of Western powers’ security concerns, and a respectable election is important in the effort to restore stability to the vast West African nation.
Mali is also a major transit route for illegal migrants trying to reach Europe, a concern in European Union capitals.
For Malians the election is about securing peace but also alleviating hardship and poverty.
Read More:
Polls closed in a run-off presidential election in Mali
Mali election takes place amid terror threats
