Insurgents Kill Dozens In Mali Base And Attack Timbuktu, Sources Say

An Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group active in West Africa’s Sahel region has claimed an attack on a military base in Mali on Sunday that two sources said had killed more than 30 soldiers.

In a separate attack on Monday, the group, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), said it targeted a military airport and Russian mercenaries in the northern city of Timbuktu, where residents described taking cover from explosions and gunfire.

More than 400 soldiers have reportedly been killed by insurgents since the start of May in bases and towns in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, an unstable region prone to coups.

Sunday’s attack in central Mali hit a military base in Boulkessi, near the border with Burkina Faso.

The Malian army said in a statement it had been forced to pull back after dogged defence, but gave no casualty numbers.

Two security sources said more than 30 soldiers had been killed.

A municipal source at Mondoro, near the base, said there were many dead.

Videos shared online showed dozens of insurgents overrunning the base. One showed militants stepping on the bodies of soldiers who had fallen between sandbags. Reuters could not immediately authenticate the videos.

In Timbuktu, the assailants hit multiple positions with heavy gunfire and shelling, residents said.

“There was panic, people are locked in their homes, we don’t know what’s going on,” one resident told Reuters, before relative calm returned to the city.

Mali’s army said on X on Monday afternoon that the situation was under control and that 13 jihadists had been killed.

“Based on the evidence that is emerging, the scale of the assault and the immediate claims by JNIM suggests this was a long-term and carefully planned attack,” said Byron Cabrol, senior Africa analyst at Dragonfly.

Source: Reuters