Mali junta reports ‘terrorist’ attacks on several targets

An attack by “unknown armed terrorists” has been carried out on military barracks and other targets in the capital Bamako, the military in Mali reported on Saturday.

Attacks had also occurred in other locations in the country, the general staff reported. Fighting was ongoing, a brief statement said.

Witnesses reported intense fighting in a town near the capital where junta leader General Assimi Goita lives, and in other key cities.

Mali, a landlocked West African country, has been ruled by a military junta since 2020.

It has been stricken by more than a decade of jihadist conflict.

A Malian army statement said: “Terrorist groups, not yet identified, early this morning targeted certain points and barracks in the capital and the interior” of the country.

“We call on the population to be vigilant. Our defence and security forces are engaged in annihilating the attackers.”

The army said that “several terrorists have been neutralised and equipment destroyed”.

The junta chief’s whereabouts were unknown.

There was also intense speculation over Defence Minister General Sadio Camara after residents said a powerful blast destroyed most of his home.

Camara’s entourage insisted he was not present at the time and was “safe”.

The German embassy in Bamako put out a statement to German citizens in the country saying the situation was unclear.

It added that the airport had been shut down, advising citizens to seek shelter and avoid the city region.

The US embassy in Mali issued a security alert on its website urging US citizens in and around the capital to “shelter in place”.

A dpa journalist in Bamako said locals near the airport had reported hearing explosions.

Reports on social media suggested attacks were also taking place in the eastern city of Gao, Mopti in the Inner Niger Delta and Kati, which lies to the north-west of Bamako.

The military offered no details on the attackers.

Mali has resources including gold and other valuable minerals.

But since 2012, it has been grappling with a security crisis over attacks by jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and community-based criminal groups and separatists.

The military used the crisis to justify its takeover.

There have been repeated attacks by the JNIM Salafist jihadi group, an al-Qaeda affiliate formed in 2017.

Observers say the JNIM has recently been seeking to join forces with the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA).

A UN mission attempted to stabilise the security situation in the former French colony between 2013 and 2023, when the government asked it to leave.

Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, which had been fighting with Malian forces against jihadists since 2021, ended its involvement in June 2025.

It has since become the Africa Corps, an organisation under the direct control of the Russian defence ministry.

The government, like its military counterparts in neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, has severed ties with former colonial ruler France and several Western countries, to move closer politically and militarily to Russia.

Thousands of people have died in attacks in Mali since the jihadist turmoil erupted and tens of thousands of Malians have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, including Mauritania, in recent years.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse