Intense fighting took place on Saturday in Bamako and in several Malian localities after attacks claimed by Jnim jihadists, in coordination with Tuareg rebels. If the Malian army declared having repelled the attackers, the Tuareg rebels claim to control the key town of Kidal.
Published on: 04/25/2026 - 11:18 Modified on: 04/26/2026 - 2:53 p.m.
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An unprecedented offensive since the rush of jihadist groups on Bamako in 2012: this is how several experts describe the series of coordinated attacks across Mali carried out on Saturday April 25.
The jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (Jnim), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility at the end of the day for these attacks coordinated with Tuareg rebels against strategic positions of the junta in power in Mali, on the outskirts of Bamako and in several major towns in the country.
The Malian army claimed that the situation was "under control", but several local sources reported a withdrawal of government forces and fighting in several localities in the east and north of the country.
In a statement, Jnim, which has been fighting for years against the military in power in Bamako, declared that it took "responsibility" for the attacks targeting "the headquarters of Malian President Assimi Goïta, the headquarters of Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara, the international airport" of Bamako, the capital, and "military sites in the neighboring town of Kati."
The Jnim claimed the capture of the key town of Kidal (north), "after a successful operation carried out against the Malian army and the mercenaries of the Russian corps with the participation of our FLA partners".
The jihadists also say they have taken "total control of the city of Mopti (center) and control most of the army and mercenary strongholds in Sévaré (center) and Gao", in the North.
The Malian army and the Russian forces of the Africa Corps were entrenched in their camps in Gao and Kidal, where they remain under fire from mortars and heavy machine guns from the attackers, according to local sources contacted by our journalist Wassim Nasr, expert on jihadist movements.
Unprecedented degree of coordination
The regional correspondent for France 24, Serge Daniel, specifies that these attacks demonstrate an unprecedented degree of coordination between the jihadists of Jnim, a group originating in particular from Al-Qaeda, and the Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA).
“According to my information, the jihadists of Jnim and the rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front are on the same ground and there are bridges between them,” explains the journalist on social networks.
The US Embassy in Bamako and the UN have asked their employees to avoid all non-essential travel and to stay safe.
"We are facing a vast, coordinated offensive across the country at a level not seen since 2012, when the government lost half the country. [There have been] serious security failures in Bamako," Charlie Werb, an analyst at the consultancy firm Aldebaran Threat Consultants (ATC), told AFP.
Mali is led by soldiers who came to power through two coups in 2020 and 2021. The country has been facing a deep security crisis since 2012, fueled in particular by the violence of jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization, as well as community criminal groups and separatists.
With AFP
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