An Al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an attack on a military airport and training centre in Bamako, the first attack of its kind in years to hit the Malian capital, AFP reported.
JNIM group said on its communication channels that a “special operation” targeted “the military airport and the training centre of the Malian gendarmes in the centre of the Malian capital” at dawn.
It said the attack caused “huge human and material losses and the destruction of several military aircraft.”
Earlier, Mali’s army said the situation was “under control” after what it called a foiled infiltration attempt by “terrorists” into a military police base.
The military-led authorities generally use the term “terrorists” to describe insurgents and separatists in the north of the country.
The scale of the attack, targets, means used and human toll remain unclear, in a context where the flow of information is restricted under the ruling junta.
Bamako is normally spared the kind of attacks that occur regularly in some parts of the West African country.
Images broadcast later in the day by Mali’s public TV channel showed around 20 prisoners, sat on the floor with hands tied and blindfolded.
“The terrorists have been neutralised. The sweep is continuing,” army chief of staff Oumar Diarra said during the ORTM news report but did not mention an attack on the airport.
The police training camp is a few minutes from the airport district, where the military facility neighbours the civilian one.
The transport ministry said in a statement that access to the airport was “temporarily restricted in order to prevent any risks”.
Search operations are under way, the army said, calling on people to remain calm and avoid the area.
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