Bamako woke up with a start on Tuesday, September 17. Gunshots and explosions rang out around 5 a.m. According to information from Young Africathe shooting continued until at least 8 a.m. (local time). While attacks are rare in the Malian capital, the army announced that it had foiled an infiltration attempt by “terrorists” into a gendarmerie compound. A few hours later, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM or JNIM), a jihadist alliance affiliated with Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Armed men who have not yet been formally identified attacked at least one gendarmerie camp in Bamako this morning,” a gendarmerie official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity. “Bamako airport is temporarily closed in the face of the events,” said an airport official, without commenting on the duration of this measure. The Ministry of Security also wished to salute “the strong reaction of the Defense and Security Forces [qui a permis] to repel the attacks”, before “reassuring the populations” and inviting them to “go about their business”. The press release calls for their “vigilance and patriotic spirit to report any suspicious movement”.
Another simultaneous attack not confirmed
Other sources, cited by Jeune Afrique, also mention another simultaneous assault near the Senou camp, next to the Modibo-Keïta international airport, about ten kilometers south of the gendarmerie camp attacked this morning. This is not mentioned in the official press releases.
The Malian capital has not experienced a terrorist attack since 2015, when twenty people were killed during a hostage-taking by two jihadists inside the Radisson Blu hotel. However, several Malian army positions near the capital have been targeted by jihadists in recent years. Proof that the threat is once again approaching Bamako.
Mali, a poor and landlocked country facing the spread of jihadism and a deep crisis since 2012, has been the scene of two putschs, in August 2020 and May 2021. It has since been governed by a junta led by Colonel Assimi Goïta. Following him, its neighbors, Burkina Faso and Niger, have also seen military seize power by force.