This video grab taken from an AFPTV video on September 17, 2024 shows a plume of smoke rising in Bamako as shots and detonations were heard.
| Photo Credit: AFP

An elaborate attack by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Mali’s capital this week killed some 70 people, diplomatic and security sources said on Thursday (September 19, 2024) while the government offered no figures on casualties.

Militants attacked an elite police training academy and the airport on Tuesday, demonstrating their ability to strike at the heart of Mali’s capital. The country is fighting an insurgency that took root over a decade ago in its arid north.

The scale and complexity of the attacks further undermines the ruling junta’s claims that security has improved since it booted out French and U.S. forces, and turned to Russia instead for security.

Two diplomats serving in the region, including one based in Bamako, said the death toll was believed to be in the 70s. Reuters could not independently verify the numbers.

A third diplomat based in the region said hundreds were believed dead and wounded, and hospitals had run out of beds to treat survivors.

Since the conflict in Mali erupted, violence has spread to neighbours in the Sahel region and reached the north of coastal countries. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the region, and some fighters are allied with Al Qaeda or Islamic State.

Tuesday’s attack was claimed by Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM).

Mali’s ruling junta has said it suffered some losses, without providing details. A Malian newspaper reported that funerals for some 50 police cadets were to be held on Thursday.

Reuters was unable to obtain further details or confirm the services took place.

The attack was captured in videos published on social media that showed insurgents setting fire to the presidential jet and dead bodies at the police academy.

Only days prior, Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita, who seized power in a coup in 2021, said his army had considerably weakened the armed groups it is fighting with Russia’s help.

The attack also comes on the heels of a battle with high casualties in July, when insurgents wiped out scores of experienced Russian mercenaries and Malian forces in fighting near Mali’s northern border with Algeria.

Leader of Mali’s ruling junta Lt. Col. Assimi Goita (C). File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Mali’s army said Tuesday (September 17, 2024) that the situation was “under control” after what it called a foiled infiltration attempt by “terrorists” into a military police base in the capital, Bamako, where attacks are rare.

“Early this morning, a group of terrorists tried to infiltrate the Faladie military police school,” the army said on social media.

“The situation is under control,” it also announced in a news flash on radio and television.

The security ministry spoke of “terrorist attacks” against “sensitive points of the capital”, including the military police school.

Mali’s military-led authorities generally use the term “terrorists” to describe jihadists and separatists in the north of the country.

Search operations are under way, the army said, calling on people to remain calm and avoid the area.

Two members of the military police were wounded, they and their family told AFP.

Bamako is normally spared the kind of attacks that occur in some parts of the West African country on an almost daily basis.

But the city awoke on Tuesday to the sound of gunfire and explosions, an AFP correspondent said.

Sporadic shots were still ringing out at the start of the morning.

“This morning armed men attacked at least one military police base in Bamako. They have not been formally identified,” a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Black smoke could be seen rising from an area near the airport.

“Bamako airport is temporarily closed due to events,” an airport official said, without saying how long the closure would last.

Gunfire, explosions

Volleys of gunfire interspersed with explosions began at around 5:00 a.m. (local and GMT), the AFP correspondent said.

A witness said he and other worshippers were stuck in a mosque near the area during early morning prayers.

The French high school, Liberte, announced it would remain closed “due to external events”.

Staff at the United Nations mission in Mali received a message, saying: “Gunshots heard in parts of Bamako. All UN personnel are to restrict movements until further notice.”

Poor and landlocked Mali has since 2012 been ravaged by different factions affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as by self-declared defence forces and bandits.

The violence spilled over into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Mali has been ruled by a military junta since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

Under junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali broke a long-standing alliance with European partners and former colonial power France, turning instead to Russia and its Wagner mercenary group for support.

The military government last year also ordered the withdrawal of the U.N. stabilisation mission, MINUSMA, and in January ended a 2015 peace agreement with separatist groups in the north.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – the latter two also now under military leadership – formed their own Sahel alliance a year ago and all pledged to leave regional bloc, ECOWAS.

The worsening security situation in Mali has been compounded by a humanitarian, economic and political crisis.

The military leaders have pledged to regain control of the entire country.

An attack blamed on jihadists in central Mali killed more than 20 civilians on July 1, two local officials said, in the latest killings in the troubled Sahel region.

Mali has for over a decade been ravaged by jihadists and other armed groups, with the centre of the West African country becoming a hotbed of violence since 2015.

“At least 21 civilians have been killed” in the village of Djiguibombo, several dozen kilometres from the town of Bandiagara, an official from the provincial authority said on July 3, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He attributed the attack to jihadists.

Another provincial authority official, who spoke overnight, said about 20 people had been killed and the security situation prevented authorities from going to the site.

But a local youth representative said the army had arrived afterwards.

Both local authority sources asked not to be identified given their positions. Since the junta came to power in 2020, information about such incidents is not generally made public.

The attack began before nightfall and “lasted around three hours”, the youth representative said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

“Twenty people have been killed. More than half are young people. Some victims had their throats cut,” the source said.

“Many inhabitants fled towards Bandiagara. Those who stayed were not even able to bury the dead properly,” he said.

Spiralling violence

The deteriorated security context, remote locations and a lack of reliable information mean that attacks often take a long time to confirm.

Mali has since 2012 been plagued by different factions affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as by self-declared self-defence forces and bandits.

The jihadist violence that started in the north spread to the centre of the country in 2015, when Katiba Macina — an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group — was established, led by the Fulani preacher Amadou Kouffa.

Human rights groups regularly denounce widespread impunity for attacks on civilians.

Radical Islamist groups impose pacts on local populations under which they are allowed to go about their business in return for paying a tax, accepting Islamic rules and not collaborating with the Malian army or other armed groups.

Communities are subject to retaliatory measures in the event of non-compliance.

The violence spilled over into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, with military regimes seizing power in all three countries.

Thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by the violence.

Since taking power in a 2020 coup, Mali’s military rulers have broken off their anti-jihadist alliance with France and European partners, while turning politically and militarily towards Russia.

The junta has enlisted the services of what it presents as Russian military instructors, but who, according to a host of experts and observers, are mercenaries from the private Russian company Wagner.

Bamako regularly claims to have gained the upper hand against the jihadists, as well as separatists in the north.