The raids targeted the localities of Markacoungo and Kassela, both on the Bamako-Ségou axis, in the south-east of the country.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
al-Qaida claimed two attacks which killed at least two firefighters and three civilians on Monday January 2 near Bamako, in a statement authenticated by the American NGO Site, specialized in the monitoring of radical groups, consulted Wednesday by the ‘AFP.
The jihadists of the support group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, JNIM in Arabic), affiliated with Al-Qaida, evoke in their press release “two simultaneous attacks against a position of firefighters and a protection unit of the environment and the forest both located near the Malian capital “.
The attacks targeted the localities of Markacoungo and Kassela, both on the Bamako-Ségou axis, in southeast Mali, an area where they are relatively rare. Al-Qaida does not give a balance sheet. The Malian Ministry of Security and Civil Protection had assured Tuesday that that of Markacoungo had killed two firefighters and three civilians.
Mali, a Sahel country, has been fighting for a decade a jihadist insurrection that has spread to Niger and Burkina Faso Voisins. The power junta since 2020 has brought Russians whom she presents as military instructors who came to help fight jihadists. Westerners describe said military instructors as mercenaries of the Wagner paramilitary group, close to the Kremlin.
While violence is raging in the center, the north and east of the country, the question of the future of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali arises. In December, Germany became the seventh country to decide to interrupt or suspend its participation in the mission. Last month, two peacekeepers were killed and four injured when unidentified attackers opened fire on a police patrol in Timbuktu (North).