Three days after Islamist insurgents affiliated with al-Qaida stormed an army compound outside Bamako, the military junta ruling the country has failed to offer an official death toll or share any details about the attack. But unofficial reports suggest the assault killed dozens of military police cadets and left more than 100 others wounded. A separate but simultaneous attack on Bamako’s airport damaged aircraft used by Mali’s interim president, Col. Assimi Goita, as well as the U.N. World Food Programme. (New York Times)
Our Take
The attack earlier this week is just the latest in a string of recent setbacks in Mali’s battle against Islamist insurgents, which has now lasted for over a decade. In July, for instance, an insurgent ambush on a joint convoy of Malian and Russian troops left dozens dead in northeast Mali.
Those setbacks were already a problem for the military junta that has ruled Mali since seizing power in a coup in 2021. In addition to corruption, lack of accountability and poor governance, frustration among Mali’s military and population at large over the civilian government’s failure to make headway against the Islamist insurgency despite more than a decade of fighting was a major factor behind the coup.