Two weeks after the series of coordinated attacks that claimed the lives of ten Malian soldiers, according to the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), the Malian army carried out large-scale strikes in the Kayes and Nara regions.
The Malian army raid destroyed safe havens for the insurgents, neutralising several fighters, the General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGA) announced Monday.
On July 1, seven strategic locations – Niono, Molodo, Sandare, Kayes, Diboli, Nioro du Sahel, and Gogui – were simultaneously attacked by JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate. In the morning, the jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they had inflicted casualties on the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa), citing the deaths of ten soldiers and the capture of several military positions, notably in Diboli, Sandare, and Kayes.
In response, the Malian forces responded with determination, inflicting “heavy losses” on the attackers. In a televised statement, the Director of Information and Public Relations of the Armed Forces (DIRPA), Colonel-Major Souleymane Dembele, stated that more than 80 jihadists were neutralised on the day of the attacks, that weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and motorcycles were seized, and that coordination with partner forces remained intact.
Maintaining this offensive momentum, the FAMa claimed to have struck several logistics points and a training camp of the insurgents in the Gal-Gal forest, 25 km north of Aourou, in the Kayes region, on July 12 and 13.
Transit and lookout shelters were also destroyed in the Bamadougou sector, 25 km southeast of Madina Kagoro, in the Nara region. According to the army headquarters, these operations resulted in the neutralisation of three enemy combatants and the recovery of surveillance equipment.
The army reaffirmed that the search for and destruction of sanctuaries of the insurgents continues, despite the violence and simultaneous attacks by JNIM, which on July 1 demonstrated an unprecedented capacity to cause harm, even in the area bordering Senegal.
AC/Sf/fss/as/APA