Mali’s armed forces have announced the killing of 80 al-Qaeda-linked fighters following a wave of coordinated attacks on military posts across seven towns in central and western Mali, near the borders with Senegal and Mauritania.
The armed group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed responsibility for the simultaneous strikes, which it described as “coordinated and high-quality.” The militants reportedly overran several military barracks, including in Diboli, Kayes, Sandaré, Nioro, and Gogoui. In a televised statement, army spokesperson Colonel Souleymane Dembélé said the army had inflicted “significant losses in every location where they engaged” with the enemy and showcased visuals of captured weapons, motorcycles, and rebel casualties. Residents of Kayes described “intense gunfire” and smoke near the governor’s residence, while locals in Nioro said their towns “woke up in shock.”
These attacks follow a pattern of escalating jihadist activity across the Sahel, where Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger continue to battle extremist insurgencies. On 2 June, a similar assault struck Timbuktu and its airport. The U.S. military has warned that the region has become the “epicenter of terrorism on the globe.” Despite pledges by Mali’s ruling military junta to prioritize national security, the country remains besieged by jihadist violence, separatist rebellions, and worsening instability — threatening to spill further into West Africa’s coastal states.