Al-Qaida affiliate attacks Mali army bases as junta struggles to contain jihadist threat

A group connected to al-Qaida has attacked a Malian military base in Timbuktu, as reported by military sources and local officials, just a day after it took responsibility for another strike near the Burkina Faso border. Inhabitants of the historic city informed reporters that they had detected gunshots.

The announcement followed the group Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) taking responsibility for an assault on a military base in Boulkessi, close to the border with Burkina Faso. The Malian government has not yet released casualty numbers from the attack on Sunday, but sources informed that up to 30 soldiers may have died.

Since 2012, a multitude of jihadist factions, particularly the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and JNIM, have been battling against Malian security forces. When Mali’s junta took control in 2020, it pointed to the worsening security conditions as a key justification for its takeover and vowed to take strong measures to stabilize the nation.

According to experts and civil society representatives, the situation has shown little improvement, while random killings by Malian security forces have escalated alongside the entry of Russian mercenaries who initially operated under the Wagner group and later as Africa Corps.

Militant factions have persisted in their assaults in the Liptako-Gourma area where Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger meet. In February, Human Rights Watch reported that 34 individuals were killed when an armed group attacked a civilian convoy moving from Gao to Ansongo in north-eastern Mali, even though the vehicles had the protection of five military pickup trucks.

Comparable assaults have occurred throughout the Sahel, which represents over fifty percent of all global fatalities caused by terrorism.