Terrorism • The Defense Post

Bamako Breached: JNIM’s Capital Strike Signals Dangerous New Chapter for Mali

Charlie Werb — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 05:05:52 +0000

The attack on Mali’s capital Bamako by Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) marks a sobering milestone in the African country’s ongoing security crisis.

For the first time since 2015, terrorists managed to strike the heart of the capital, challenging the already fragile stability of the region.

How the Attack Unfolded

Over the past two and a half years, JNIM has been noted as creeping closer to Bamako, indicating that the capital’s relative safety from terrorist violence was unlikely to last forever.

Soon after the sound of gunshots and explosions began echoing through the city on the morning of September 17, it was clear that terrorists had reached Bamako. These sounds marked the beginning of an hours-long JNIM assault on the Malian capital — one of the al-Qaeda affiliate’s most audacious and successful attacks to date.

Two locations were attacked almost simultaneously, with clashes first reported at a gendarmerie training school in Faladié. Fighting at the school, which lasted for over three hours, led to a majority of the purported 70 casualties.

A second group of fighters attacked Air Base 101, a government and military facility located on the southern perimeter of the civilian Modibo Keita International Airport in Sénou. Fighting lasted far longer at this base, and while JNIM killed far fewer security forces there, its fighters inflicted significant damage on buildings and planes.

Among the jets confirmed to have been damaged was the government’s Boeing 737, reported to have recently been used by leader Assimi Goïta, in addition to an aircraft used by the World Food Programme and one belonging to Sky Mali.

The images and footage of JNIM fighters freely wandering beside airplanes, as well as inside one of the country’s most strategically important sites, have served as compelling propaganda for the group.

By nightfall, the Malian military had repelled the attack and regained full control of the city. Malian authorities have not yet reported a casualty figure, admitting only that there had been “some” deaths, nor have they confirmed any of the speculated loss of aircraft.

JNIM, known to inflate its claims, reported having killed or wounded over 100 Malian and Russian military personnel, destroyed six military aircraft (including a drone), and disabled several others.

In final statement on Bamako attack, Al-Qaeda in Sahel (JNIM) claims go have killed and wounded over 100 of soldiers, destroyed 6 military aircraft including a drone, while partially disabling four. In addition dozens of military vehicles were burnt along other equipment #Mali https://t.co/9jtF7h8Vdt pic.twitter.com/jcJceC803E

— Paweł Wójcik (@SaladinAlDronni) September 17, 2024

The Attack’s Unique Dimensions

The attack on two such symbolic military sites sent a message to President Goïta. The assault on his former military base and images of a JNIM fighter setting fire to one of his planes underscore that the group has both the capability and desire to strike at Mali’s center of power.

Moreover, strictly attacking military targets, JNIM has again tried to differentiate itself from the junta, which it frequently accuses of killing civilians.

It is also telling that such a large-scale, coordinated attack was successful despite not targeting softer civilian targets.

JNIM’s success says much about the Malian security apparatus’ deficiencies, yet it equally reflects the group’s offensive capabilities, which have grown immeasurably over the past decade. JNIM’s evolution as a fighting force will undoubtedly continue further, much to the detriment of governments and militaries in the region.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect was revealed following the attack when JNIM reported that the operation was conducted by two teams of inghimasi (suicide fighters) from the sub-group Katiba Macina.

Salman al-Bambari, an ethnic Bambara of Bamako’s main ethnic group, headed the first unit that struck the gendarmerie school. Abdul Salam al-Fulani, an ethnic Fulani, one of the most prominent ethnic groups in West Africa, targeted the airport.

Fulani involvement in this attack would not alarm a Bamako resident or a government official, for the ethnic group is often associated with jihadists across the region. Yet footage of al-Bambari’s pre-attack vows being recited in Bambara is far more unprecedented.

This footage of the two commanders is an implicit decision by JNIM to underscore their trans-ethnic makeup, as well as demonstrate that their message can resonate with individuals from any background.

JNIM and Goïta’s Junta: Two Contrasting Fortunes

The attack in Bamako is yet another recent high-profile victory JNIM has been able to claim in Mali, with the group participating in the humiliating defeat of Malian and Russian troops in Tinzaouaten close to the border with Algeria toward the end of July.

While JNIM continues to enjoy great success in Mali, the Goïta administration is facing its most challenging period yet. Despite a range of threats confronting the junta, it is its recent inaction that has arguably done the most to undermine its hold on power.

The fatal defeat at the hands of JNIM and The Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security, and Development (CSP-PSD) in Tinzaouaten came largely as a result of the junta’s underestimation of the resources and manpower required to reestablish control over the area.

The defeat was a significant blow to the junta’s credibility, both domestically and internationally.

Evidence suggests that Goïta has sent another column from Gao to Kidal, from where it is anticipated to eventually head northward toward Tinzaouaten, with last week’s attack further raising the stakes for the military’s operations in northern Mali.

The importance of reclaiming the country’s north is often noted as being underappreciated by those in the West. However, how the junta has focused attention, personnel, and material on military operations against the CSP-DPA in northern Mali has come at a hefty price, with its heavy focus here playing a part in JNIM’s recent successes — including the attack on Bamako.

Malian President Assimi Goita. Photo: Jin Liangkuai /Xinhua via AFP

What Lies Ahead for Mali?

Tough decisions now lie ahead for the political leadership in Bamako.

Another major misstep could prove to be a fatal blow for Goïta, placing even more pressure on the success of Malian and Russian forces should they continue their touted northern incursion toward Tinzaouaten.

Yet a potential victory there will do little to solve the junta’s more existential threat of JNIM. Having now expanded and entrenched itself in the Koulikoro Region surrounding Bamako, the al-Qaeda affiliate will be difficult to displace, particularly if the government continues to deploy the same ineffective counterterrorism measures.

The attack on Bamako symbolizes the past failures of the Malian political leadership in combatting the violent extremist groups present inside its borders.

Unfortunately for the junta, this attack is likely also a look into the future. JNIM is likely to continue encroaching on the territory surrounding Bamako, gradually applying pressure on the capital via similar violent incursions, as well as through attacks on major roads leading to the city.

While the Malian government likely has the capacity to better defend the capital, doing so may come at the cost of protecting other strategically important locations in the country.

JNIM’s growing presence in southern Mali not only endangers Bamako and other major cities and towns, but also Mali’s gold mines, which are overwhelmingly found in the southern regions of Sikasso, Koulikoro, and Kayes.

The junta must now carefully balance these competing aims, for the loss of a town, city, gold mine, or other valuable sites could be the catalyst for yet another regime change.

Charlie Werb is an analyst, writer, and commentator focussing on sub-Saharan African security issues, with a particular emphasis on Islamist extremist groups in the region.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Defense Post.

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At Least 12 Soldiers Killed in Niger Attacks: Army

Staff Writer With AFP — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 08:38:49 +0000

A series of ambushes and explosions across military-run Niger killed at least 12 soldiers and wounded 30 others, the army announced on state-run television Wednesday.

In the first attack, in western Tillaberi region on Sunday, “a horde of criminals who arrived in their hundreds” killed five soldiers and wounded 25 more, according to the army.

The ground and air response killed “more than 100 terrorists,” the army said, without giving further details on the attackers.

On Monday, in the restive southwest Diffa region where there are frequent attacks by Boko Haram and the West African branch of the Islamic State group, five patrolling soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device.

A “surgical strike” in retaliation “killed several terrorists” responsible, the army said.

In the latest attack, militants from a new resistance group called the Patriotic Movement for Freedom and Justice (MPLJ) claimed an operation against a military outpost in the Agadez region in the north.

The army said two soldiers were killed and six wounded in Tuesday’s attack.

“A pursuit operation was immediately launched to track down the fleeing assailants who were heading for the Libyan border,” the army added.

The MPLJ claims to have killed 14 soldiers and two gendarmes in the attack, and to have lost two of its own fighters.

Created in August, the MPLJ is an offshoot of the Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) armed group, which is fighting the junta for the release of ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.

Democratically elected Bazoum was overthrown in a coup in July 2023 and has since then been held at the presidential palace.

While the military justified its power grab by citing the deteriorating security situation, violence persists.

According to the independent Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, around 1,500 civilians and soldiers in Niger have been killed in jihadist attacks over the past year, compared with 650 between July 2022 and 2023 when Bazoum was in charge.

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Al-Qaeda-Linked Jihadist Group Claims Rare Attack on Mali Capital

Staff Writer With AFP — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 04:54:07 +0000

An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Mali’s capital Bamako that saw them temporarily take control of part of the international airport.

Images broadcast on the communication channels of the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) group showed fighters strolling around and firing randomly into the windows of the presidential hangar in the airport complex.

The country’s general staff later said that the attack killed a number of military personnel but did not give a detailed toll.

It confirmed that a gendarmes’ training center and the city’s airport were targeted.

The hangar usually hosts official guests and the head of state of the West African country, which has been under military rule since coups in 2020 and 2021.

One video showed a fighter calmly firing at the engine of an aircraft, while in others thick smoke could be seen rising from the airport and the hangar of the presidential plane.

“This cowardly and treacherous attack caused some loss of human lives on our side,” including some trainee military police, the general staff said in a statement read out on state television, adding that the attack had been repelled.

“This situation was rapidly brought under control,” it said. “The combing of the area is ongoing.”

Details about the surprise attack were scarce throughout the day, after volleys of gunfire interspersed with explosions broke out at around 5:00 am (0500 GMT).

JNIM said on its communication channels that a “special operation” targeted “the military airport and the training centre of the Malian gendarmes in the centre of the Malian capital” at dawn.

It said the attack caused “huge human and material losses and the destruction of several military aircraft.”

Unverified videos circulating on social media showed charred bodies on the ground.

Bamako is normally spared the sort of attacks that occur almost daily in some parts of the West African country.

Jihadists struck a nearby military camp in 2022. In 2016, gunmen attacked a Bamako hotel housing the former European training mission of the Malian army, with no casualties reported among the mission staff.

Heavy Exchanges of Fire

With the flow of information restricted under the ruling junta, details on how Tuesday’s attack was carried out and its results are sketchy.

Heavy exchanges of fire took place early afternoon near the police station controlling access to the civilian airport terminal, security, and airport officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

An intelligence source said the attackers used rocket launchers.

The firing seemed to have stopped by mid-afternoon, an AFP correspondent said.

Earlier, the army said that the situation was “under control” after what it called a foiled infiltration attempt by “terrorists” into the military police base.

The junta-led authorities generally use the term “terrorists” to describe jihadists and separatists in the north of the country.

“The terrorists have been neutralised. The sweep is continuing,” the army’s chief of staff, General Oumar Diarra, said on state television.

Images broadcast by the public TV channel showed around 20 blindfolded prisoners sitting on the floor with their hands tied.

The army urged the population to remain calm.

Diarra spoke only of “slightly complex infiltration attempts” at the training center, with no mention of the claimed assault on the military airport.

The police training camp is a few minutes from the airport district, where the military facility neighbors the civilian one.

Regional Unrest

Poor and landlocked Mali has since 2012 been ravaged by different factions affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as by self-declared defense forces and bandits.

The violence has spilled over into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Mali has been ruled by a military junta since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

Under junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali broke a long-standing alliance with European partners and former colonial power France, turning instead to Russia and its Wagner mercenary group for support.

The military government last year also ordered the withdrawal of the UN stabilization mission, MINUSMA, and in January ended a 2015 peace agreement with separatist groups in the north.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — the latter two also now under military leadership — formed their own Sahel alliance a year ago, and all pledged to leave the regional bloc ECOWAS.

The worsening security situation in Mali has been compounded by a humanitarian and economic crisis.

The military leaders have pledged to regain control of the entire country.

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Gunmen Attack Police Base in Mali Capital

Staff Writer With AFP — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 10:09:21 +0000

Gunmen attacked a military police base early Tuesday in the Malian capital Bamako where gunfire and explosions were heard and the airport was closed, sources, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.

“This morning armed men attacked at least one military police base in Bamako. They have not been formally identified,” a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity.Volleys of gunfire interspersed with explosions began at around 5:00 am and black smoke could be seen rising from an area near the airport.”Bamako airport is temporarily closed due to events,” an airport official said without saying how long the closure would last.

A witness said he and other worshippers were stuck in a mosque near the area during early morning prayers.

The French high school Liberte announced it would remain closed “due to external events” and staff at the United Nations mission in Mali received a message urging them to “limit (their) movements until further notice.”

Mali has been ruled by a military junta since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

A number of armed rebel groups are active in the West African country — including separatists and jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group — but until now the capital has been spared.

After the Malian coup, military juntas also seized power in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Under junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali broke a long-standing alliance with European partners and former colonial power France, turning instead to Russia and its Wagner mercenary group for support.

The military leaders have pledged to regain control of the entire country.

Their offensive against rebels in the north has given rise to numerous allegations that the army and its Russian allies have committed abuses against civilians since 2022, charges they deny.

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Drone Strike Kills Three in Iraq’s Kurdish Region: Official

Staff Writer With AFP — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 04:27:14 +0000

A drone strike on Thursday killed three people including a child in Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdish region, where the Turkish military regularly targets Kurdish fighters, a local official said.

“This afternoon, a drone attacked a pick-up, killing three people, including a child,” Osman Anwar, the district governor of Chwarta, where the attack took place, told AFP.

The driver was identified as “a regular citizen, a farmer,” but the identity of the two other passengers was not known due to the severity of their burns, Anwar said, adding that the strike targeted the vehicle near the village of Harmeleh.

Turkey has maintained dozens of military bases in northern Iraq for the past quarter of a century as part of its campaign against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The leftist group has waged an on-off insurgency against Turkey since 1984, and is blacklisted as a “terrorist organization” by Ankara and its Western allies.

Thursday’s strike comes a day after a similar attack on a car in the autonomous region that also killed three people, a father and his two teenaged sons aged 18 and 14, according to Kamaran Osman, a human rights officer from the Community Peacemaker Teams organization.

The Turkish defense ministry on Tuesday said its forces had launched air strikes on the PKK in the mountains of northern Iraq, claiming to have killed “numerous” militants.

Iraq’s federal government in Baghdad discreetly outlawed the PKK as a “banned organization” in March, and last month agreed a military cooperation deal with Ankara that will see joint training and command centers set up in the fight against the militants.

On August 23, a drone strike that officials in the Kurdish region blamed on Turkey killed two women journalists working for PKK-funded outlets.

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12 Syrian Soldiers Killed in Suicide Attacks: War Monitor

Staff Writer With AFP — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 10:08:38 +0000

Twelve Syrian soldiers were killed on Wednesday by an Al-Qaeda-linked group in northwest Syria, according to a war monitoring organization, the highest such death toll in the region this year.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “12 members of the regime forces, including an officer, were killed following suicide attacks carried out by special forces from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS), targeting regime forces positions in the north of Latakia province” adjacent to Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the northwest.

The death toll is the “highest among the regime forces in the region since last September,” according to the observatory.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, told AFP that the attack was part of “an escalation by HTS since Monday, which included attacks on regime forces on several fronts.”

The Idlib region is subject to a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey after a regime offensive in March 2020. Despite being repeatedly violated, the ceasefire is still largely holding.

HTS controls swathes of Idlib province and parts of neighboring Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia.

More than five million people, most of them displaced, live in areas outside government control in the Idlib region.

HTS, considered a terrorist organization by Damascus, the United States, and the European Union, regularly clashes with Syrian and allied Russian forces.

It is the main rebel organization active in northwest Syria, but there are other groups, some backed by Turkey.

Syria’s war broke out after President Bashar al-Assad repressed anti-government protests in 2011, and has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions, and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry.

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At Least 81 Killed in Nigeria in Suspected Boko Haram Attack: Officials

Staff Writer With AFP — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 04:49:12 +0000

At least 81 people died and several were missing after an attack by suspected Boko Haram jihadists in Nigeria’s northeastern Yobe State, local officials told AFP on Tuesday.

“Around 150 suspected Boko Haram terrorists armed with rifles and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) attacked Mafa ward on more than 50 motorcycles around 1600 hours on Sunday,” said Abdulkarim Dungus, a Yobe state police spokesman.

“They killed many people and burnt many shops and houses. We are yet to ascertain the actual number of those killed in the attack.”

Dungus said it appeared to be a revenge attack “for the killing of two Boko Haram terrorists by vigilantes from the village.”

Bulama Jalaluddeen, a local official, added: “From these figures it has been established that at least 81 people were killed in the attack.”

“Fifteen bodies had already been buried by their relations by the time soldiers reached Mafa for the evacuation of the corpses.

“In addition to these, some unspecified number of dead victims from nearby villages who were caught up in the attack were taken and buried by their kinsmen before the arrival of the soldiers. Many people are still missing and their whereabouts unknown.”

Boko Haram and other jihadist groups have waged a 15-year insurgency in northeast Nigeria that has killed more than 40,000 people.

Central and northwest Nigeria have been plagued for years by gangs of criminals known as “bandits,” who raid villages, kill and abduct residents, and burn homes after looting them.

By working alongside these gangs, jihadist groups have increasingly established a presence in central Niger state, officials and analysts say.

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Six Killed, 13 Wounded in Kabul Suicide Bombing: Police

Staff Writer With AFP — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 10:56:50 +0000

A suicide bomber triggered explosives in the Afghan capital on Monday, police said, killing six people and wounding 13 more.

Violence has waned in Afghanistan since the 2021 Taliban takeover, however, several militant groups remain active including the regional chapter of Islamic State.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday afternoon’s attack, which took place in the Qala-e-Bakhtiar area of Kabul’s southern outskirts.

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said “a person wearing explosives on his body detonated,” and one woman was among the fatalities.

“The injured were transferred to hospitals on time and investigations are ongoing,” he posted on social media platform X.

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have declared security their highest priority since surging back to power following the chaotic withdrawal of foreign forces three years ago.

While their sweeping security operations have led to a decline in militants challenging their rule, according to analysts, they also downplay or delay confirmation of attacks.

The last suicide attack in Afghanistan claimed by the regional chapter of Islamic State was in the southern city of Kandahar — the Taliban’s historic stronghold — in March.

Taliban authorities said only three people were killed while a hospital source put the toll far higher at 20.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP last month that Islamic State “existed here before but we suppressed them very hard.”

“No such groups exist here that can pose a threat to anyone,” he said.

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Germany Ends Military Operations in Junta-Run Niger

Staff Writer With AFP — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 15:01:56 +0000

The German army on Friday vacated an airbase in junta-run Niger and flew its final troops home, completing a withdrawal from the restive Sahel nation.

At the end of May, Germany and Niger reached an interim agreement allowing the German military to continue operating its airbase in the capital Niamey until the end of August.

But negotiations to extend that agreement broke down, notably because the base’s personnel would no longer benefit from immunity from prosecution.

Senior German and Nigerien military officials read out joint statements announcing the completion of the withdrawal.

“This withdrawal does not mark the end of military cooperation between Niger and Germany, in fact the two sides are committed to maintaining military relations,” they said.

Five cargo planes carrying 60 German troops and 146 tonnes of equipment landed at the Wunsdorf air base around 6:30 pm local time (1630 GMT), where they were met by state secretary for defense Nils Hilmer.

Germany had operated the base in Niger since February 2016 and it once housed some 3,200 personnel.

Niger has been run by a military government since a coup d’etat in July 2023 ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, who has been held as a prisoner ever since.

The regime has turned its back on other Western allies such as France and the United States to turn toward Russia and Iran.

A similar shift has taken place in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, which are likewise ruled by military leaders and faced with violence from jihadist groups.

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Indian Insurgents in Manipur Launch Deadly Drone Attack

Staff Writer With AFP — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 10:10:46 +0000

Insurgents in India’s Manipur state have carried out a deadly attack on security forces, using drones to drop explosives in what police called a “significant escalation” of violence in the restive northeastern region.

A 31-year-old women was killed and six people were wounded Sunday in what police said was an “unprecedented attack” by rebels who used drones to drop the heads of rocket-propelled grenades.

Fighting broke out in Manipur in May 2023 between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and mainly Christian Kuki community, an ethnic conflict that has since killed at least 200 people.

Rival militias have set up blockades in parts of the state, which borders war-torn Myanmar.

Longstanding tensions between the two groups revolve around competition for land and public jobs, with rights activists accusing local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.

“While drone bombs have commonly been used in general warfare, this recent deployment of drones to deploy explosives against security forces and the civilians marks a significant escalation,” Manipur police said in a statement Sunday.

The attack outside the state capital Imphal was carried out by “alleged Kuki” rebels, the statement said.

Those injured included an eight-year-old girl — the daughter of the woman who was killed — as well as three civilians and two police officers.

“The involvement of highly trained professionals, possibly with technical expertise and support, cannot be ruled out,” the police said.

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