Militants attack training camp near airport in Mali’s capital, causing deaths

This video shows Malian security officers detaining a man after the Malian army said a training camp in the capital Bamako was attacked in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP)

BAMAKO, Mali — Jihadists attacked a training camp near the airport in Mali’s capital Tuesday as explosions were heard in the area. Within hours, the government announced the temporary closure of Bamako’s airport.

A security official said there had been an unspecified number of deaths and significant damage, but did not provide details.

The military said in a statement that a cleanup operation had been launched after an attempted infiltration of the gendarmerie school in Faladie. The army said the situation was under control and asked people to avoid the area.

The armed extremists who attacked the training camp have now been neutralized, Oumar Diarra, the army chief of staff, said on national television.

The military later confirmed that the attack took place in “multiple locations,” but did not provide details.

Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM claimed responsibility for the attack. Through its media arm, the Azallaqa website, the group said it caused “serious human and material losses” and set planes on fire. Militant groups often exaggerate their claims.

Earlier in the day, an Associated Press reporter heard two explosions and saw smoke rising in the distance from the camp and airport, which were on the outskirts of town.

A security official told the AP that the attackers entered the training camp, causing “casualties and property damage,” but did not provide any numbers or details. He said they attacked both the training camp and a military base near the airport.

At least 15 suspects have been arrested, said the official, who was at the base at the time of the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Malian authorities closed the airport shortly after the attack. Mohamed Ould Mamouni, a communications officer at the transport ministry, said flights had been suspended indefinitely because of the exchange of fire that took place nearby.

The US Embassy in Bamako appealed to its employees to stay at home and off the roads.

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has been struggling for more than a decade with insurgencies by armed groups, including some aligned with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. After military coups in all three countries in recent years, the ruling juntas expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance.

Since taking power, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to fend off growing jihadist attacks. Attacks in central and northern Mali have intensified. In July, about 50 Russian mercenaries from a convoy were killed in an al-Qaeda ambush.

The mercenaries were mainly fighting Tuareg rebels alongside the Malian army when their convoy was forced to retreat into jihadist territory and was ambushed south of the commune of Tinzaouaten.

Attacks in the capital Bamako, however, are rare. In 2022, gunmen attacked a Malian army checkpoint about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the city, killing at least six people and wounding several others. In 2015, another extremist group linked to al-Qaeda killed at least 20 people, including an American, in an attack on a hotel in Bamako.

Tuesday’s attack is significant because it showed JNIM is capable of carrying out a large-scale attack, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior researcher at the Soufan Center, told the AP.

“This is further evidence that they are focusing their efforts on military targets rather than random attacks on civilian targets,” he said.

Mednick reported from Goma, Congo, and Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal.