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07-07-2026
BAMAKO: Armed men have launched attacks in five locations across Mali, the army says, more than two months after gunmen attacked the capital and other parts of the country.
The attacks took place on Saturday in areas including a northern town where government forces and Russian fighters are based, and a town south of the capital, Bamako, Mali’s military and security sources said.
The army said the attacks targeted Aguelhok, Anefis, GAO, Sevare and Kenieroba.
The Media said a prison in Kenieroba, 74km from Bamako, was attacked, citing residents and security sources. It reported that the fighting in different locations started at about 5am local time (05:00 GMT).
A separatist Tuareg-led armed group confirmed that it had attacked a northern Malian town early on Saturday.
Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), told the Reuters news agency that fighters from the group attacked the town of Anefis in the northeastern Kidal region.
Government and Russian troops deployed in Anefis in the wake of attacks on April 25 and 26, in which the FLA and the regional al-Qaeda affiliate seized control of Kidal town.
Mali has previously faced rebellions by armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), as well as a separatist rebellion in the country’s north. The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.
‘Explosions rang out’
FLA’s Ramadane separately told media that “several positions have fallen, but fighting is still underway inside the city” of Anefis.
An Anefis resident contacted by media said “armed groups are in the town, but the army is still putting up resistance. The camp [there] has not yet fallen”.
Anefis and Aguelhok, both in the north, are the last remaining locations where Mali’s army maintains a presence in the Kidal region, following the April attacks.
Meanwhile, in the central city of GAO, a local official told media that gunfire and rockets had been launched at a military camp since before dawn. It was not immediately clear which fighters were responsible.
In Sevare, another central town, “explosions rang out … around 5am, though their origin is not yet known. Shortly thereafter, several aircraft were spotted flying over the area”, a security source told media.
In Kenieroba, the major prison complex was also under attack, a prisoner in the facility told media.
Saturday’s assault was the latest threat to the military-led government in the landlocked Sahel country where rebels staged high-profile attacks in April, hitting the airport in the capital, Bamako, killing the defence minister and seizing a string of army bases in the north.
On 15th April, gunmen were attacked several locations in Mali, including the capital, Bamako and nearby Kati, as well as GAO and Kidal in the north, and the central city of Sevare. Mali’s army said in a statement that “unidentified armed terrorist groups targeted certain locations and barracks” in Bamako and that soldiers were “engaged in eliminating the attackers”. In a later statement, the army said the situation was under control.
Assimi Goita, the head of the military government, has yet to make a public statement. The African Union, the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the US Bureau of African Affairs have condemned the attacks throughout Mali. Analysts have described the scale and coordination of the assault as “unprecedented”. (Int’l News Desk)
