The JNIM organization, which has ties to Al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attacks, although Mali’s military government has not yet disclosed an exact death toll.
More than 70 people were killed and 200 injured in a militant attack that targeted a military police training camp and a military airport in the capital of Mali, one of the worst results the security forces have seen in recent memory.
The AFP news agency was informed by a security source, who spoke anonymously, that 77 people had died and 255 had been injured in Tuesday’s attacks in Bamako.
An official, verified, private document named 81 victims and estimated the death toll at almost 100.
The burials of some fifty military police cadets were scheduled for that day, according to the Thursday edition of Le Soir daily.
The JNIM organization, which has ties to Al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attacks, although Mali’s military government has not yet disclosed an exact death toll.
According to experts, the operation was the first of its type in years and gave the ruling junta a serious blow.
The kind of attacks that happen practically every day in various sections of the country in West Africa are usually spared from the capital of Mali.
Late on Tuesday, the general staff acknowledged that “some human lives were lost,” specifically those of the military police center staff.
A few dozen of JNIM’s militants were said to have killed and injured “hundreds” of opponents, including Russian paramilitary force Wagner.
The attack occurred one day after the breakaway organization known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which is led by the junta in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, celebrated one year of its founding.
Following several coups, the three have been ruled by the military since 2020. In January, they announced their decision to sever their connections with the ECOWAS regional bloc.
Since 2012, various groups with ties to Daesh and Al Qaeda have devastated Mali.
Condemnation
Around 0500 GMT on Tuesday, Bamako saw explosions and gunshots break out in large quantities.
Terrorists from JNIM raided a portion of the adjoining airport complex, where a military building is adjacent to a civilian one, and attacked a military police school.
According to officials and an AFP correspondent, gunfire near the airport persisted for a significant portion of Tuesday’s day.
The armed gang disseminated photos of fighters flying around, shooting indiscriminately at the presidential hangar’s glass, and damaging airplanes.
Under the reigning junta, information flow is restricted, so specifics on the attack’s execution and effects are hazy.
Experts claimed that JNIM’s attack on important military targets in the capital represented a strong blow to the ruling junta and highlighted its two-pronged strategy of harassment and territorial expansion.
According to Lucas Webber of Tech Against Terrorism, “it also signals the inability of Mali’s intelligence and security apparatus –– along with those of its Russian and regional allies –– to detect and intercept the plot beforehand.” Webber spoke to AFP.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairman of the African Union Commission, “firmly condemned” the terrorist assaults on Bamako on Thursday.
He made “an urgent appeal to strengthen strategic regional and international collaboration in the fight against the resurgence of terrorism” in West Africa, according to a statement he released.
Along with harshly denouncing the attacks, the Economic Community of West African States reaffirmed “its strong commitment in favour of any initiative” that is conducive to peace on Wednesday.
