Al-Qaeda’s West African branch, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has claimed responsibility for a wave of coordinated assaults on military positions across Mali, declaring it had seized control of three barracks and “dozens” of posts in a campaign the group described as “high-quality and synchronized.”
Earlier Tuesday, Mali’s armed forces reported multiple simultaneous attacks targeting army positions in at least seven towns across the country’s central and western regions. The military did not identify the perpetrators or disclose casualty figures. A spokesperson for the Malian army did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The locations hit include Diboli, a western border town near Senegal, as well as Kayes and Sandere nearby. Additional attacks occurred in Nioro du Sahel and Gogoui, close to the Mauritanian frontier, and further east in the central towns of Molodo and Niono.
The scale and coordination of the raids bore the hallmarks of past JNIM operations. The al-Qaeda-linked group, which operates across Mali and Burkina Faso, has stepped up attacks in recent months, exploiting a fragile security vacuum left by the drawdown of international forces.
Mali has been under military rule since a 2020 coup. Its junta-led government continues to battle both al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates in a grinding insurgency that has plagued the country for over a decade, alongside longstanding separatist uprisings in the north.
