DAKAR, Senegal — Independence fighters in northern Mali have acknowledged partnering with Islamic extremists in what officials describe as one of the most significant coordinated strikes against government forces in the nation’s capital and multiple other locations, resulting in at least 16 injuries.
This marks the first occasion that the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) has publicly acknowledged working together with JNIM, an organization linked to al-Qaeda that also took credit for Saturday’s assaults targeting Bamako’s international airport and four additional cities across Mali’s central and northern regions.
“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan said in a statement Saturday.
Government spokesperson Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly reported on national television Saturday evening that 16 individuals sustained injuries, including both civilians and service members, while multiple attackers were eliminated. He declined to specify casualty numbers.
Bamako district governor Abdoulaye Coulibaly implemented a three-day nighttime curfew running from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.
The independence movement also urged Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta in Bamako, whose actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”
After experiencing military takeovers, the governing authorities in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso shifted away from Western partnerships toward Russian assistance in their fight against Islamic extremists. However, security conditions have deteriorated recently, with militant attacks reaching unprecedented levels. Military forces have faced accusations of killing civilians suspected of working with extremist groups.
During 2024, an al-Qaeda-affiliated organization took responsibility for strikes on Bamako’s airport and a military training facility in the capital, resulting in numerous deaths.
Ramadane announced Saturday on Facebook that separatist forces had seized the northern community of Kidal along with portions of Gao, another northeastern urban center.
The Azawad independence movement has waged a multi-year campaign to establish a sovereign nation in northern Mali. Kidal had previously functioned as a separatist stronghold until government troops and Russian contractors captured it in 2023. Taking control of the city represented an important symbolic achievement for the military leadership and their Russian partners.
