The number of children killed in Mali in the first six months of this year is twice the number who died for the whole of 2018, according to the UN’s children agency.

Inter-communal attacks are the main reason for the sharp rise in children being killed and maimed in the west African country, Unicef said, with most of these attacks concentrated in the central region of Mopti. More than 150 children were killed and 75 injured in violent attacks in the first six months of 2019.

Including adults, nearly 600 Malian civilians were killed in the first half of 2019, according to Acled, an organisation that collates and analyses data on conflicts.

A recent spate of deadly attacks on villages in Mopti attributed to ethnic militias is compounding an already critical situation. Civilians are caught between these militias, armed groups and military forces. Human rights officials have said the attacks in the region, which are adding to a crisis in the north that started in 2012, “could be described as crimes against humanity”.

Having heard very little about the security situation in central Mali, Ismail, a boy from a nomadic Nigerien family, described how he was taking the family’s livestock to better grazing land and water sources over the border, just as generations of his ancestors have done, when he and his brother suddenly came under fire.

“We heard a helicopter overhead, and we got scared,” he said. “Then suddenly they opened fire on us. I blacked out. I don’t remember what happened. All I remember was them firing on us and our animals.”

His leg had to be amputated, and then he was put in detention for questioning. All the animals – the family’s wealth – were lost.

Human Rights Watch has said more than 300 people were killed in inter-communal violence in 2018. It said “scores of civilians” died in attacks by Islamist armed groups and that state security forces killed more than 60 men suspected of supporting these groups.

Armed groups have managed to recruit and use double the number of children as the same period last year, while 900 schools are closed countrywide. Many children have also been separated from their families in attacks, and more than 377,000 need protection, Unicef said, adding that the crisis is one of the least funded in the world.

“The data paints a very disturbing picture of more children being injured in attacks and the consequences are devastating for them and their families,” said the agency’s child protection manager, Daniela Luciani.

Ismail was released from detention with Unicef’s help, and now is considering how to get home – embarking on a journey of several thousand kilometres on crutches is an impossible task. Even if he made it, the only profession he knows is herding, which would be extremely difficult with only one leg.

“We’re trying to contact our family in Niger but it’s not easy,” said Ismail, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. “They’re always moving with the animals and I’m worried it might take years before we get to go home.”