Mali’s military government faced a fresh wave of attacks on Saturday after insurgents struck several army positions across the north and centre of the country, including areas where Russian-backed forces have been deployed.
The Azawad Liberation Front, a Tuareg-led rebel movement, said its fighters attacked Anefis in the northeastern Kidal region early Saturday. The town has been a key position for Malian troops and Russian paramilitary forces since the junta lost control of Kidal town during a major rebel and jihadist offensive in April.
FLA spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told Reuters that the group carried out the assault on Anefis. Residents in Gao, another major northern city, also reported heavy gunfire and rockets near a military camp before dawn.
A local official in Gao said the attack had continued through the morning, though it was not immediately clear which armed group was behind the fighting there.
Local Malian reports said security incidents were also recorded in Aguel hoc, Sévaré and Kenioroba, suggesting a broader attempt to stretch the army across multiple fronts. Pro-government accounts claimed some attacks had been repelled, but there was no independent confirmation of casualties, battlefield losses or changes in control.
The Malian government did not immediately issue a detailed public response.
Saturday’s violence comes after the April 25 offensive, one of the most serious challenges to Mali’s junta in years. That wave of attacks hit Bamako’s airport, Kati, Gao, Mopti, Sévaré and Kidal, and killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara, according to Reuters reporting at the time. The offensive was claimed by al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin and involved cooperation with the Tuareg-led FLA.
The FLA has its roots in the long-running Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali, while JNIM seeks to expand jihadist rule across the Sahel. Their battlefield coordination has intensified pressure on Mali’s junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021 and later turned to Russian forces after expelling French troops and the U.N. peacekeeping mission. Reuters has described the April attacks as exposing unprecedented cooperation between JNIM and the FLA.
Mali’s security crisis has continued to deepen despite repeated claims by the military authorities that they are restoring control. Armed groups now operate across large parts of the north and centre, while jihadist factions have pushed closer to southern and western regions in recent years.
