ARMED bandits have killed three Dutch tourists in a remote desert region of northern Mali. A government statement identified the tourists, all men, as Ferdinand Smit, Aardi Tenboogaard, and J. Jsint. Security forces found the bodies and arrested ”the four people responsible for this filthy crime” in a search of the area known as the Tessalit circle, some 2000 kilometres miles north of the capital, an official said. ”Armed bandits” is the term used by authorities for people who attack and steal all-terrain vehicles in that part of the country, where Tuareg rebels were active until a 1996 peace pact. Over the past months, some 20 vehicles belonging to non-governmental organisations in the area have been stolen in the area. The Peugeot in which the tourists were driving apparently disappeared.