Mali says attack repelled in capital; Qaeda affiliate claims responsibility

By Fadimata Kontao, Tiemoko Diallo and Idrissa Sangare

BAMAKO (Reuters) -Mali said on Tuesday that its capital Bamako was under control after insurgents attacked a gendarmerie training school and other strategic areas before dawn, firing gunshots that reverberated around the city.

Al Qaeda affiliate Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attacks on several points in Bamako were a rare case of unrest reaching the capital after years of armed conflict in the hinterlands between government forces and Islamist rebels.

After the shooting subsided, the capital was tense, with vigilante groups of youth patrolling the streets. Reuters saw the charred remains of one body. People nearby said it was a cigarette seller set on fire by youths because he was wearing a bullet belt, making them suspect he was an attacker.

Videos circulated online showing an armed insurgent setting the engine of an aircraft on fire. The official-looking jet on the tarmac was emblazoned with the words "Republic of Mali." Another video showed a gunman firing several machine gun rounds in an empty airport hall. A third showed smoke billowing from an airport hangar.

Reuters has not been able to authenticate the videos.

Access to the airport was temporarily restricted to avert any risks, the transport ministry said, telling people there to remain calm. The restriction was later lifted.

"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.

Army chief General Oumar Diarra visited the school in the aftermath and told journalists the "complex attack" was now under control and fighters who infiltrated had been "neutralised".

The report on state television showed around a dozen blindfolded men rounded up on the floor. The footage also showed two blurred out bodies, one in military fatigues and one in civilian clothing.

Later on Tuesday evening, the army said in a statement that the attack led to "some deaths" including cadets of the gendarme academy. It did not give an exact number.

Another video that circulated online showed a sleeping quarters with around two dozen bunk beds in tight formation that had been torched. Several charred bodies can be seen, some under the beds. Reuters has not authenticated the videos.

Reuters heard the gunfire from the Banankabougou neighbourhood near Faladie before sunrise. People heading to the mosque for morning prayers turned back as shots rang out.

A security agent who did not want to give his name said the attack started around 0300 GMT. He suspected attackers had taken advantage of a Muslim holiday on Monday that brought an influx of worshippers to infiltrate the city.

LONG-RUNNING INSURGENCY

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 during the advance of the militants, some with 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 that authorities did not 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 remains rare for insurgents to strike inside the capital. The last time a major attack took place in Bamako was in 2015, when armed men launched a dawn raid on the Radisson Blu hotel that killed 20 people.

"The insurgents wanted to shatter the narrative that security has improve, but most people are still likely to support the government," said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo, Fadimata Kontao and Idrissa Sangare in BamakoAdditional reporting by David Lewis, Bate Felix, Jessica Donati and Portia CroweWriting by Sofia ChristensenEditing by Alexander Winning, Peter Graff and David Gregorio)