By BAMAKO, Mali — Islamic militants attacked a military training camp and the airport in Mali’s capital Tuesday, sparking deadly gunbattles before troops were able to subdue the assailants, officials said. No details of casualties were immediately released.
The militants tried to infiltrate the Faladie military police school in Bamako in a rare attack on the capital, prompting a sweep by government troops who later were able to “neutralize” the attackers, Army Chief of Staff Oumar Diarra said on national television, without providing further details.
The attack on the training camp caused “loss of life and material damage,” a security official told The Associated Press. However, no specific figures were given. At least 15 suspects were arrested, said the official, who was inside the training camp at the time of the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to reporters.
Islamic militants attacked a military training camp and the airport in Mali’s capital Tuesday, sparking deadly gunbattles before troops were able to subdue the assailants, officials said. No details of casualties were immediately released.
Mali’s army later confirmed that the militants also targeted the airport in their attack, in a statement read on national television in the evening. The airport was temporarily shut down but resumed operations later in the day. “This cowardly and perfidious attack led to some losses of life on the army’s side,” the army statement said, confirming that trainees at the military training camp were killed, though no exact number was provided.
The al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM claimed responsibility for the attacks on its website, Azallaq. Videos posted by JNIM on the site show fighters setting a plane at the airport on fire. The group claimed to have inflicted “major human and material losses.”
An AP reporter heard two explosions in the area earlier Tuesday and saw smoke rising from a location on the outskirts of the city, where the military camp and airport are located.
A file photo shows Malian soldiers are pictured during a patrol with soldiers from the new Takuba force near Niger border in Dansongo Circle, Mali. (Reuters).
Soon after the attacks, Mali’s authorities closed the airport, with Transport Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ould Mamouni saying flights were suspended because of the exchange of gunfire nearby. The airport later reopened later in the day.
Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three countries in recent years, the ruling regimes have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Since taking power, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to contain the growing number of attacks by the jihadists. Attacks in central and northern Mali are increasing. In July, approximately 50 Russian mercenaries in a convoy were killed in an al-Qaida ambush.
Mali’s army repels a terrorist attack on its largest military base, located on the outskirts of Bamako. Seven attackers were killed and eight arrested in the assault.
“I think JNIM wanted to show they can also stage attacks in the south and in the capital, following the battle on the north near the Algeria border, where Wagner forces suffered losses,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which promotes democracy.
This video grab shows Malia security personnel detaining a man after Mali’s army said a military training camp in the capital Bamako has been attacked early Tuesday, Sept.17, 2024
Tuesday’s attack is significant because it showed that JNIM has the capability to carry out a large-scale attack, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, told the AP.
Militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have repeatedly raided bases across Mali during a decade-long insurgency concentrated in the country’s north and center.
