Bamako – Jihadists attacked a strategic Mali army base in the central region of Mopti on Thursday, military and local sources told AFP.
Since late April, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and its Tuareg separatist allies have waged a series of attacks meant to weaken the country’s junta rulers.
Mali’s armed forces said in a statement that the attack was carried out on the Dioura military camp.
Fighting broke out Thursday morning around the military station, which serves as a key forward base for army operations in the area.
“Our positions came under fire this morning, but the situation is now under control with the support of our partners,” an army officer based in Mopti told AFP, referring to the Moscow-backed Africa Corps paramilitary fighters.
Local residents contacted by AFP reported intense fighting and a chaotic situation on the ground.
“We heard gunfire early in the morning, it was non-stop. Then a few moments later we saw army pickup trucks speeding from the camp towards the edge of town,” a resident said on condition of anonymity.
Another resident reported that the attackers were “inside the camp” and that a Malian aircraft had been spotted flying over the area, while noting that the situation “is not completely calm”.
The director of the military public relations service called the attacks “complex” but said that the army had “managed to destroy the enemy”.
An army officer based in Mopti told AFP that no casualty figures were yet available and that assessments were under way on the ground.
JNIM quickly claimed “total control of a Malian army barracks in the town of Dioura” on its communication channels.
The Dioura military camp has been attacked several times in recent years by JNIM jihadists and the Tuareg-separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA).
Mali has been wracked since 2012 by a serious security crisis, notably fuelled by violence from jihadists allied to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, along with criminal gangs and armed separatists.
Its ruling junta, which came to power in two successive coups in 2020 and 2021, has turned away from former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia, both militarily and politically.
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Source: AFP
