Mali Opens Investigation into Soldiers Suspected of Involvement in Military Base Attacks
Theo Al Jazeera Staff
Mali has begun investigating five soldiers, including three active-duty personnel, for suspected links to last week's coordinated attacks on military bases across the country. The attacks, which killed the defense minister and forced Russian-backed forces from Kidal, were claimed by al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM and separatist groups, raising fears of further instability.
Malian authorities have opened an investigation into soldiers suspected of involvement in a wave of coordinated attacks on military bases across the country last week. The attacks were claimed by a group linked to al-Qaeda and separatist factions.
In a statement on May 1, the prosecutor of a military court near the capital Bamako identified five suspects, including three active-duty soldiers, a retired soldier, and one soldier who was killed in clashes near a military base in Bamako. The statement read: “The first arrests have been successfully carried out, and all other perpetrators, accomplices, and facilitators are being actively sought.”
The coordinated attack on the morning of April 25 dealt a heavy blow to the military government of this West African nation, which came to power after coups in 2020 and 2021. The defense minister was killed, and Russian forces backing the government were forced to withdraw from the northern town of Kidal, now under the control of the al-Qaeda-linked group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Tuareg separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA).
The violence has sparked fighting across the vast northern desert region of Mali, raising the possibility that armed groups could gain significant advantages, becoming increasingly bold in targeting neighboring countries. JNIM has called on Malians to rise up against the government and convert to Islamic law. The group has also declared it will besiege Bamako, and on May 1, security sources told Reuters they had set up checkpoints around the city of four million.
Military leader Assimi Goita, in a televised address on April 28, asserted that the situation was under control and vowed to “neutralize” the armed groups behind the attacks. Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (a German think tank), said the “big test” would be whether the government can hold larger northern cities like Timbuktu and Gao. “If they also fall, anything could happen,” Laessing told Al Jazeera.
