Islamist militants and Tuareg separatists mounted coordinated strikes across Mali on Saturday, hitting the capital and towns in central and northern regions in one of the country’s largest assaults in years.
The al-Qaida-linked Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed responsibility on its Az‑Zallaqa website, saying the attacks on Bamako’s Modibo Keïta international airport and sites in four other cities were carried out jointly with the Azawad Liberation Front, a Tuareg separatist movement. Mali has long faced Islamist insurgencies alongside a separatist rebellion in the north.
Mali’s army said “unidentified armed terrorist groups targeted certain locations and barracks” in Bamako, and that soldiers were “engaged in eliminating the attackers.” Authorities later said the situation was under control. An Associated Press journalist in Bamako reported sustained heavy-weapons and automatic-rifle fire near the airport, about 15 km from the city centre, and saw a helicopter over nearby neighbourhoods. The airport adjoins an airbase used by Mali’s air force. A resident near the airport also reported gunfire and the presence of three helicopters.
The US embassy in Bamako issued a security alert reporting explosions and gunfire near Kati and the international airport, advising US citizens to shelter in place and avoid travel to those areas. Kati, home to Mali’s main military base and the residence of junta leader Gen. Assimi Goïta, experienced gunfire and blasts, a resident said. A shopkeeper told the AP that an explosion heavily damaged the residence of Defence Minister Sadio Camara.
Social media footage circulated showing convoys of fighters in trucks and on motorcycles moving through largely deserted streets of Kati as residents watched. Reports of attacks also came from Sévaré and Mopti in central Mali.
In northern towns, videos from Kidal and Gao showed exchanges of street gunfire and bodies on the ground. Insurgents were reported to have entered Kidal, seizing parts of the town and clashing with army units, a former mayor told the AP on condition of anonymity. Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for the Azawad movement, posted on Facebook that his forces had taken control of Kidal and some areas of Gao; the AP could not independently verify that claim.
Kidal had been a longtime separatist stronghold until Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries retook it in 2023 — a symbolic gain for the junta and its Russian backers. Azawad separatists have long sought an independent northern state.
A Gao resident said gunfire and explosions that began in the early hours continued into the late morning, shaking doors and windows and leaving people frightened. Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, described the operation as the largest coordinated assault in Mali in years and expressed alarm at the apparent cooperation between JNIM and Tuareg rebels, recalling jihadist–Tuareg collaboration during the 2012 offensive that worsened the region’s security crisis.
Mali, alongside Niger and Burkina Faso, has battled groups aligned with al-Qaida and the Islamic State for years. After successive coups, the juntas in the three countries have sought Russian support to fight militants, but analysts say violence has increased, with a record number of militant attacks and accusations that security forces have killed civilians suspected of colluding with insurgents. Earlier in 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an assault on Bamako’s airport and a military training camp that killed scores.