Yoopya with Reuters
BAMAKO, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Mali said on Tuesday that the capital Bamako was under control after insurgents attacked a gendarmerie training school and other areas before dawn, firing gunshots that reverberated around the city.
“Early this morning, a group of terrorists attempted to infiltrate the Faladie gendarmerie school. Mopping-up operations are currently under way,” the army said in a statement.
It called on residents to avoid the area and await further official communication.
The military government said “some sensitive points of the capital” came under attack, including the gendarmerie school.
It said the army had pushed back the “terrorists” responsible for the assault and urged civilians to go about their daily business.
The gendarmerie school is in Faladie, a district on the southeastern outskirts of Bamako, near the main international airport. Reuters heard the gunfire in the Banankabougou neighbourhood near Faladie before sunrise. People heading to the mosque for morning prayers turned back as shots rang out.
The gunfire started around 0530 GMT. Some residents said it came from the direction of the airport, while others said it was coming from next to the gendarmerie.
A security source said gunfire was heard in several neighbourhoods, including areas close to the main airport.
Another security source said the airport had been closed.
Mali is one of several West African countries fighting an Islamist insurgency that took roots in Mali’s arid north in 2012 and has since spread across the Sahel and more recently to the north of coastal countries.
Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the region amid the advance by militants, some of whom have links to al Qaeda and Islamic State, and military efforts to push them back. Governments and fighters have been accused of violence against civilians.
Frustration against the authorities for failing to restore security contributed to two coups in Mali – in 2020 and 2021 – followed by two in neighbouring Burkina Faso and one in Niger.
But jihadist attacks have escalated despite the juntas’ promises to improve security, in part by replacing alliances with Western countries with Russian support, including mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner private army.
Experienced Wagner fighters were killed at the end of July during a battle near the Algerian border between Tuareg rebels and the Malian army, which suffered heavy losses and was ambushed by jihadists as it withdrew.
It is however rare for insurgents to strike inside the capital. In 2015, armed men launched a dawn raid on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako that killed 20 people.
Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo and Fadimata Kontao in Bamako Additional reporting by David Lewis and Bate Felix Writing by Sofia Christensen Editing by Alexander Winning and Peter Graff
By Fadimata Kontao and Tiemoko Diallo