(Bloomberg) -- Mali’s army thwarted an attack on a military-training camp in the capital, Bamako, as unidentified assailants hit multiple targets across the city, closing a nearby airport as security forces fought off the gunmen.
The attackers targeted the “airport area” and a military training school, sparking an hours-long gun battle before security forces retook control of the area, Mali’s army chief of staff said late Tuesday.
The attack, a rare one for Bamako that’s largely been spared from the jihadist violence causing havoc in Mali since 2012, lead to “losses of life and material damage,” General Omar Diarra was quoted in a statement on public broadcaster ORTM.
“This cowardly and deceitful attack caused the loss of lives among us, including some of the school’s students,” Diarra said, without specifying the number of casualties.
Mali has been under military rule since 2020, when interim leader Colonel Assimi Goita ousted the West African nation’s elected president, citing the previous regime’s failure to repel the Islamist insurgents.
Goita, who pledged to retake territory under jihadist control, has struggled to stop attacks by militants — some linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, targeting security forces and the population.
Tuesday’s attack is the first large-scale assault by suspected militants in the capital since al Qaeda-affiliates raided an upscale hotel in 2015. It comes after mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group deployed to Mali and European forces and a United Nations peacekeeping mission were forced to withdraw.
Wagner suffered one of its heaviest losses since it arrived in 2021 last July when separatist rebels killed scores of Malian soldiers and mercenaries.
Mali accounted for one third of reported Islamist attacks in the region last year, according to data compiled by the US Department of Defense’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
Al-Qaeda’s West Africa affiliate JNIM, which has been designated a terrorist group by the US, issued a statement saying it was behind the attack.
An army spokesman only referred to the assailants as terrorists.
“Mop up operations to root out any of their collaborators are ongoing,” Diarra told ORTM.
Images broadcast by the channel showed about 20 men blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs.
Schools, shops and the airport remained closed on Tuesday. At least two Ethiopian Airlines’ flights bound for Bamako were redirected to neighboring countries flight radar data showed, while Turkish Airlines cancelled an evening flight from Istanbul.
The airport is adjacent to Air Base 101, which is used by Mali’s air force, and an operating base for Wagner.
(Adds details on casualties from third paragraph, updates throughout)
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