Jihadist fighters launch coordinated raids on military posts

Jihadist fighters have launched a series of simultaneous attacks on military posts in numerous cities in Mali – the third major attack on the army in the last month.

Mali’s army said she had repelled the attacks on Tuesday morning, claiming to “neutralize” more than 80 fighters without saying if there were any other victims.

However, Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam Wal Muslimin (JNIM), linked to the al-Qaeda group, which said it was behind the attacks, said it had taken control of three army barracks.

For more than a decade, Mali has been surrounded by a deadly Islamist uprising, as well as attacks from separatist movements.

In a statement broadcast on national television, army spokesman Suleiman Dembele said: “The enemy suffered significant losses at every place where he is committed to the security and defense forces.”

Kohl Dembele added that the army had restored weapons, vehicles and motorcycles from attackers.

Early the armed forces said the attacks had occurred in seven cities and cities, including binols, Case and Sandre, near the border with Senegal. There were also attacks on the north, near Mali’s border with Mauritania.

A Case resident told the AFP news agency: “We woke up in shock this morning. There is a shooting and from my house I see smoke twists to the governor’s residence.”

Jnim called his attack “Coordinated and High Quality” in a statement published on social media. They do not describe victims in detail.

The group also said it had committed two other significant recent attacks.

On June 2, the fighters headed for both an army camp and the airport in the ancient, northern town of Timbuktu.

Just a day before this attack killed at least 30 soldiers in the center of the country.

Attacks, the last sign of increasing uncertainty in Mali and the broader Sahel region, came after the US Africa command warned of the increasing efforts of various different Islamist belligerent groups operating in Sahel to gain access to the Western Africa coastline.

During a press conference in May, the Commander of the United States in Africom, Gen. Michael Langli, described recent attacks in Nigeria, the width of Sahel and the Chad Lake Pool as deeply anxious.

He warned that access to the groups up the shore would significantly increase their smuggling and weapons capacity.