While some regions of Mali remain the prey of almost daily attacks, its capital had been preserved from violence since an anti-Western attack in March 2016 targeting a hotel housing the former European training mission for the Malian army.
“A special operation (targeted) the military airport and the training center of the Malian gendarmes in the center of the Malian capital (Bamako) this morning at dawn, causing enormous human and material losses and the destruction of several military aircraft,” said the JNIM via its communication channels.
In a context of tension and strong restrictions imposed on the circulation of information under the ruling junta, the modus operandi remained poorly defined.
The fighting continued into the afternoon with heavy gunfire near the airport. The shooting appeared to have stopped by mid-afternoon, an AFP correspondent reported.
“The situation is under control,” the army chief of staff, General Oumar Diarra, said on state television. “The terrorists have been neutralized. The sweep continues,” he said. The army called on the population to remain calm.
Television showed images of about 20 prisoners with their hands tied and blindfolded.
The general simply spoke of “somewhat complex infiltration attempts” into the gendarmerie school, without mentioning an attack on the airport, unlike the jihadists.
The gendarmerie school is located just a few minutes by road from the airport sector, where the military airport adjoins the civilian facilities.
An intelligence Source reported the use of rocket launchers by the attackers.
The French Lycée Liberté issued a message announcing that it would remain closed “due to external events.” UN employees also received a message telling them to “limit (their) movements until further notice.”
Mali has been the scene of two coups, in August 2020 and May 2021. It has since been governed by a junta led by Colonel Assimi Goïta. Following him, its neighbors, Burkina Faso and Niger, have also seen military forces seize power by force.
Tuesday’s attack calls into question the narrative of Malian authorities who claim to have reversed the trend against the jihadists in their favor. In 2022, the jihadists carried out an equally audacious attack on the Kati military camp, a stronghold of the junta located about fifteen kilometers from Bamako.
Since 2022, the military in power has broken the old alliance with France and its European partners, to turn militarily and politically towards Russia.
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