An appraised 77 people have been finished in an strike on Mali’s capital, Bamako, according to the AFP recents agency.
About 200 others were injured in the strike, which took place on Tuesday and caengaged hospitals to be overwhelmed with wounded fortolerateings, a diplomat who asked to remain anonymous telderly the recents agency. It’s unevident how the victims were wounded; however, livents alerted firearmstoastys and explosions. There was also smoke from apparent fires coming from originateings.
Malian authorities shutd Modibo Keita International Airport after the strike.
Mali’s military regulatement downapplyed the incident with officials stating the situation was “under regulate” and the strike had been repulseled. Officials postponecessitater acunderstandledgeted the military had suffered casualties.
State TV station ORTM showed images of about 20 doubts apshowd to have been included in the strike wearing blindfelderlys and with their hands tied. It was alerted they had been seized by the military. “The sweep persists,” army Chief of General Staff Oumar Diarra shelp.
What happened in the strike?
Malian authorities shelp an armed group strikeed an elite military police training school in the Faladie didisjoine of Bamako as well as a military base shut to the airport timely on Tuesday.
Gunstoastys rang out in the city centre, and smoke billowed into the sky from what ecombineed to be fires the fighters had lit in originateings and other infraarrange, according to some accounts.
Responsibility for the strike has been claimed by the al-Qaeda-joined Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muskinnyin (JNIM).
The group’s stated aims include to “delete oppression” and eject non-Muskinny “occupiers”, referring to Weserious impact in the country, such as foreign troops stationed in Mali. It also functions in Burkina Faso and Niger.
https://x.com/ali_naka/status/1835949989522190422
JNIM members ecombineed to have finished scores of Malian selderlyiers and Russian fighters from the Wagner mercenary group during the nine hours the strike is apshowd to have lasted for. The Wagner Group, now called Africa Corps, is deployed in the country to aid the regulatement in repulseling armed groups.
JNIM posted videos of the aggression on social media sites. The clips showed fighters setting fire to a regulatement airarrangee and firing on an arrangee owned by a United Nations help organisation, the World Food Programme (WFP). Videos also showed dozens of apparently dead selderlyiers, including white selderlyiers presumed to be Russians.
https://x.com/YoroDIA18/status/1836391875340591559
While JNIM claimed to have apshown regulate of the airport and the surrounding area on Tuesday, the Malian authorities shelp on state widecasting nettoils postponecessitater in the day that the strike had been repulseled.
JNIM claimed a confineed dozen of its members were finished during the aggression and it had been able to wound hundreds of Malian selderlyiers and Russian fighters.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the strike and validateed that one UN staff member had been injured. The African Union, Senegal, France and the United Kingdom denounced the aggression.
WFP spokesperson Djaounsede Madjiangar validateed the harm to the aircreate he shelp was engaged to “carry help toilers and provide ecombinency humanitarian help in far areas of Mali”. The airarrangee was on the ground at the time and had no personnel in it.
Madjiangar shelp the strike “lessens our humanitarian response capacity”.
#Mali / #Bamako: Les terro-ristes au milieu des avions à l’aéroport Bamako Sénou. #SahelLeaks pic.twitter.com/jPniwYnoBM
— SahelLeaks (@SahelLeaks) September 17, 2024
Why is this strike convey inant?
The strike happened in Bamako, the capital and seat of the military regulatement, and definitepartner focengaged military bases. Such a high-profile strike on Bamako has not happened in years.
While Mali has been beset by aggression from disjoinal armed groups since 2012, including JNIM and the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), it has been honestd in the northern and central parts of the country, hundreds of kilometres from the southweserious capital.
The last time a high-profile strike was carried out in the city was in 2015 when fighters focengaged foreigners at a nightclub in March and aacquire at the Radisson Blu Hotel in November.
A civilian regulatement was in power at the time, and French forces were aiding the army.
Five people were finished and nine injured in the nightclub strike. Twenty people were finished in the Radisson Blu strike.
Both strikes were carried out by the al-Mourabitoun armed group, which has now combined with the Ansar Dine and Macina Liberation Front groups to establish JNIM.
The groups have seized huge swaths of land in central and northern parts of the country and tax civilians in occupied communities. Groups appreciate JNIM also begin incursions into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. Like Mali, the two countries have been ruled by their militaries since 2021.
How has aggression by armed groups been countered before now?
France, a establisher partner of Bamako, deployed thousands of selderlyiers to Mali in 2013 and to neighbouring countries. In insertition, the UN deployed the 11,000-man peacecarry oning force MINUSMA (UN Multistupidensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali). The forces together were able to seize territories from the armed groups and helderly them, but strikes appreciate those in 2015 persisted, causing ambiguous dissatisfaction among Malians.
In 2020, forces led by Colonel Assimi Goita seized power in a military coup while blaming the civilian regulatement of Plivent Ibrahim Boubacar Keita for not doing enough to ease the deteriorateing insecurity caengaged by the armed groups.
When anti-French sentiment began to ascfinish in the region around 2015, partly due to persistd strikes by armed groups, Goita ordered French forces and MINUSMA to exit. The troops commenceed retreating in 2022 and finishd their exit by December last year.
Goita’s regulatement has instead turned to Russia’s Wagner forces for help. There are now about 2,000 Wagner fighters in the country.
Although the Russians, alengthy with Malian selderlyiers, have been accengaged of human rights violations, the collaboration has seen Mali reacquire some territory from armed groups, especipartner in the north, analysts shelp.
What other convey inant losses have Malian troops sfinished?
In August, Tuareg defys who are nonideoreasoned groups and split from JNIM and ISGS begined what experts are calling the most convey inant strike on the Russian mercenaries since they deployed in Mali in 2021.
Tuaregs have for decades envyed Bamako for what they see as their marginalisation. Over the years, Tuareg factions have waged separatist wars, calling for an autonomous country called Azawad. It was the 2012 uprising of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad that prompted Bamako to turn to France and the UN for help.
An ambush claimed by members of the Permanent Strategic Frametoil for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD) in the northern town of Tinzaouaten resulted in the finishing of 47 Malian selderlyiers and 84 Russian fighters, according to defy accounts on Telegram.
Mali’s regulatement did not validate any casualty figures. However, officials did validate the army suffered “convey inant losses” and lost a helicchooseer.
After that strike, a Ukrainian regulatement spokesperson claimed to have provided inalertigence to the Tuareg groups to caengage harm to Russian forces during the Russia-Ukraine war.
Analyst Liam Karr of the US-based struggle watching group Critical Threats telderly Al Jazeera that while the definites of Ukraine’s help are unevident, it is doubtful to be on a huge scale.
The Ukrainian regulatement tried to backtrack on the claim after Mali and its allies in Niger cut discreet ties with Kyiv. Ukraine’s Senegal-based ambassador to French-speaking West African countries, Yurii Pyvovarov, no lengthyer has relations with the two countries.
Although a French push helped see thraw a peace concurment and inwhole autonomy for the Tuaregs in 2015, the military regulatement has torn up those deals since it came to power, likering to apshow a difficultline approach to the separatist transferment and trying to reacquire regulate of the northern region of Kidal by force instead.
What is happening in the wider region?
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are all experiencing increasing levels of aggression despite their military regulatements cutting ties with France and turning to Russian forces for help. The number of strikes involving armed groups increased by 46 percent from 2021 to 2023 apass the three countries, causing thousands of civilian casualties. Liptako-Gourma, the region that joins the three countries, is a particularly volatile toastyspot.
The three countries broke away from the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) a year ago and have since established a confederation – the Alliance of Sahel States. They promised to jointly fight the armed groups with the help of Wagner fighters.
An appraised 100 Russian fighters reachd in Burkina Faso in January. Niger getd an muddle number of Russian units in April after it suspfinished an concurment with the United States military in March that apshowed it to function in Niger. The military regulatement telderly the US to exit key military bases set up in the country to watch activity by armed groups. The US exit became official in September.
Burkina Faso ecombines to be the worst hit with two-thirds of its territory now under the regulate of JNIM and other armed groups. More than 8,000 people were finished in the country in 2023, double the number finished in 2022, according to the struggle watching group ACLED.
In June, JNIM members strikeed a military base in the northeaserious town of Mansila, finishing more than 100 selderlyiers.
Niger, which was becoming sweightlessly more stable before its own military coup of July 2023, is now experiencing more deadly strikes from the ISIL affiliate in the Sahel, according to ACLED.
