An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Mali’s capital Bamako that saw them temporarily take control of part of the international airport.
Images broadcast on the communication channels of the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) group showed fighters strolling around and firing randomly into the windows of the presidential hangar in the airport complex.
The country’s general staff later said that the attack killed a number of military personnel but did not give a detailed toll.
The hangar usually hosts official guests and the head of state of the West African country, which has been under military rule since coups in 2020 and 2021.
Bamako is normally spared the sort of attacks that occur almost daily in some parts of the West African country.
Jihadists struck a nearby military camp in 2022. In 2016, gunmen attacked a Bamako hotel housing the former European training mission of the Malian army, with no casualties reported among the mission staff.
Heavy exchanges of fire
With the flow of information restricted under the ruling junta, details on how Tuesday’s attack was carried out and its results are sketchy.
Heavy exchanges of fire took place early afternoon near the police station controlling access to the civilian airport terminal, security and airport officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, the army said that the situation was “under control” after what it called a foiled infiltration attempt by “terrorists” into the military police base.
The army urged the population to remain calm.
Poor and landlocked Mali has since 2012 been ravaged by different factions affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as by self-declared defence forces and bandits.
With AFP
