Mali separatists confirm they joined Islamic militants in coordinated attacks

DAKAR, Senegal — Separatists in northern Mali said they joined Islamic militants in launching one of the biggest coordinated attacks on the Malian army in the capital and several other cities that left at least 16 wounded.

It was the first time that a Tuareg-led separatist group, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), said it had operated alongside the al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM, which also claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks on Bamako’s international airport and four other cities in central and northern Mali.

“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan said in a statement Saturday.

Mali government spokesperson Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on state television late Saturday that 16 people were wounded, including civilians and military personnel, and that several militants were killed. He did not provide a death toll.

The governor of Bamako’s district, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, announced a three-day overnight curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The Economic Community of West African States, a regional bloc known as ECOWAS, on Sunday condemned the attacks and called on “all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge.”

The separatists called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta in Bamako, whose actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”

Following military coups, the juntas in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened in recent times, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.

In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako’s airport and a military training camp in the capital, killing scores of people.

Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that while the attacks were a major blow to the credibility of the Mali’s Russian partners, JNIM is unlikely to take control of Bamako in the near term due to opposition from the local population.

“The attacks are a major blow to Russia as the mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities. They have unnecessarily worsened the conflict by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants,” Laessing said.

Ramadane said in a post Saturday on Facebook that separatist forces had taken control of the northern town of Kidal as well as some areas in Gao, another northeastern city.

The Azawad separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali. Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the separatist rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.