Simultaneous attacks targeted three army camps in central Mali on Sunday morning with significant material damage, we learned from military sources who did not provide a human toll.
The Malian army reported Sunday morning on its Twitter account that “a simultaneous attack is underway in Sévaré, Niono and Bapho”, without specifying the toll. “The situation is already under control in the various places,” she added.
Several military sources confirmed on condition of anonymity to AFP attacks having targeted three camps in these localities located in central Mali, without advancing any human losses at this stage.
In Sévaré, “there was a double terrorist attack, with explosion of devices and shooting”, indicated one of these sources.
Niono was targeted by “a car bomb attack”, indicated a military source in this locality.
Two military and security sources in Sévaré told AFP that the army responded to these attacks, without giving further information.
“We have asked Minusma (the UN Mission in Mali), as part of our collaboration, to send a rapid intervention force near the Sévaré camp to help secure it,” added one of these sources, confirmed by a military source within the Minusma.
These attacks caused significant material damage, according to the same military sources.
Buildings and vehicles in the Sévaré camp were destroyed and charred, according to images sent to AFP on Sunday by a source close to the army.
Debris littered the ground where traces of fire were visible, and the windows of a nearby church were blown out.
In Bapho, a helicopter was damaged, according to the same images.
Plunged since 2012 into a deep security crisis that the deployment of foreign forces has not been able to resolve, Mali has experienced two military coups since August 2020.
Starting in the north of the country, the jihadist violence spread towards the center and the south before the conflict became more complicated with the appearance of community militias and criminal gangs.
The conflict has killed thousands of civilians and combatants and central Mali is currently one of the main centers of the Sahelian crisis.
The military in power since 2020 have moved closer to Moscow at the same time as they turned away from France, engaged militarily in the country once morest the jihadists since 2013.
Mali has thus massively appealed to what it presents as “instructors” from Russia, while Westerners (Paris and Washington in particular) denounce the presence in the country of “mercenaries” from the private Russian group Wagner, which denies firmly the Malian colonels.
Against the backdrop of a diplomatic crisis with the junta, Paris announced in February the withdrawal of its soldiers deployed in Mali, an operation to be completed this summer.