Mali Tribune, from the Court of Appeal, brings you behind the scenes of the double terrorist attack that targeted the Faladié gendarmerie school and the Sénou air force air base 101.
The terrorist attack in Faladié and Sénou has almost overshadowed the trial of Bouaré Fily Sissoko and his co-defendants. At the Bamako Court of Appeal this Tuesday morning, everyone has their eyes glued to their Smartphones to be informed in real time of what is happening right next to them.
While some people are turning to social media, others prefer to follow the events on France 24 (via YouTube), which is dedicating a special edition to these attacks.
In view of the confused situation, the employees of the Court of Appeal (especially the secretaries of the attorney general and the chief clerk) asked for permission to go home. A permission that they did not obtain because they spent the day working on the opening of the trial.
For us journalists who came to cover the opening of the trial, and although access to two sites of the attacks was refused due to the draconian security measures taken, we were able to make observations.
First of all, from the Tour de l’Afrique to the level of the air base 101 of Sénou, road traffic is interrupted. Except for ambulances, no one is driving on this closed section. The motorcade of the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Oumar Diarra, passes us at high speed, demonstrating the seriousness of the situation.
Amid anger and indignation, groups of individuals arrested a presumed jihadist suspected of being an accomplice in these two attacks. They beat him up before burning him alive on the tarmac.
All day Tuesday, the sirens of the firefighters resounded around the Court of Appeal. These were the wounded that they were urgently evacuating to the Mali hospital in Missabougou. Other wounded were transported to the Gabriel Touré hospital or to the military hospital in Kati.
Around 2 p.m., sporadic gunfire was heard around the gendarmerie school adjoining the Att-bougou and Sirakoro neighborhoods. The situation calmed down around 4 p.m. with the reopening of traffic at the Tour de l’Afrique and the lifting of restrictions imposed at the President Modibo Keita International Airport.
Ousmane Mahamane
Mali Tribune
Tags: attBouaré Fily SissokoCourt of Appeal of Bamako of MaliHospital of MaliKatiMaliPresident Modibo Keita
