Militant jihadists carry out multiple assaults on military bases in Mali.

Jihadist militants have initiated a wave of coordinated assaults on military installations in various towns in Mali – this marks the third significant strike against the army in the past month.

Mali’s military announced it thwarted the attacks on Tuesday morning, reportedly “neutralising” over 80 militants, but did not disclose information regarding any other casualties.

Nevertheless, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-affiliated organization that claimed responsibility for the assaults, announced it had seized control of three military installations. For over ten years, Mali has been plagued by a lethal Islamist uprising and assaults from separatist groups.

In a statement broadcast on national TV, army spokesperson Souleymane Dembele said: “The enemy suffered significant losses in every location where they engaged with the security and defence forces.”

Col Dembele added that the army recovered weapons, vehicles and motorcycles from the assailants.

Earlier, the armed forces said that the attacks had occurred across seven towns and cities, including Binoli, Kayes and Sandere, near the border with Senegal. There were also attacks further north, near Mali’s frontier with Mauritania.

One resident in Kayes told: “We woke up in shock this morning. There’s gunfire, and from my house I can see smoke billowing towards the governor’s residence.”

JNIM referred to its assault as “coordinated and of high quality” in a message shared on social media. They did not specify any injuries. The organization has also stated it conducted two other major recent assaults.

On 2 June, fighters assaulted an army base and airport in the historic northern city of Timbuktu. Only a day earlier, a strike resulted in the deaths of at least 30 soldiers in the heart of the nation.

The assaults, the most recent indication of escalating insecurity in Mali and the broader Sahel region, followed a warning from the United States Africa Command regarding increasing attempts by multiple Islamist militant groups active in the Sahel to reach West Africa’s coast.

At a press conference in May, Gen Michael Langley, the commander of United States Africa Command (Africom), labeled recent assaults in Nigeria, the broader Sahel, and the Lake Chad Basin as extremely concerning. He cautioned that the groups’ reach to the coast would greatly increase their ability for smuggling and arms trafficking.