Several members of an insurgent group that attacked a military training school in Mali’s capital, Bamako, on Tuesday have been arrested, authorities in the jihadist-infested Sahel country have announced.
According to an army statement, a group of terrorists attempted to infiltrate the Faladie gendarmerie school and the airport military base in Bamako early on Tuesday.
Army chief General Oumar Diarra told reporters after visiting the school that the “complex attack” was now under control and rebels had been “neutralized.”
Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda-linked group, has reportedly said it was responsible for the assault, claiming it had inflicted heavy human and material losses.
The national army later confirmed that the attack had resulted in “some deaths,” including cadets from the gendarmerie academy, but did not provide an exact figure.
Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters reported gunfire in the Banankabougou neighborhood near Faladie before sunrise. According to the outlet, locals on their way to the mosque for morning prayers were forced to turn back as shots rang out. An AP correspondent also reported hearing two explosions and seeing smoke rising in the distance from the training camp and the Modibo Keita Senou International Airport.
In response to the incident, the Sahel state’s transport minister restricted access to the airport, citing the need to prevent “all risks.” The restriction was eventually lifted.
Local media footage shows the body of a suspected terrorist, who, according to witnesses, was killed while attempting to flee after the gendarmerie school attack. Another video showed several masked suspects under arrest.
“He was armed with an ammunition belt. He was also wearing a bulletproof vest,” a taxi driver told Maliweb.
While terrorist attacks are not uncommon in Mali, this week’s incident was the first in years that targeted the capital. In 2015, armed gunmen stormed an international hotel in Bamako, killing at least 27 people and holding a number of staff and guests hostage for hours.
Last month, Mali and Niger severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine after Kiev officials allegedly provided intelligence to Tuareg rebels for an ambush in late July that resulted in the deaths of scores of Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner Group contractors. In a speech on Sunday, marking the first anniversary of the creation of the AES, Mali’s interim president, Assimi Goita, accused Kiev of “openly” backing terrorism in the Sahel.
The landlocked state has been engulfed in a lethal jihadist insurgency since 2012, which a decade-long French security mission failed to quell. The violence spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, prompting the military rulers there to join Mali in severing defense ties with France. Last year, the three former French colonies formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and have turned to Moscow for security cooperation in combating terrorism.