Gunmen kill six people near Mali’s capital Bamako

At least six people were killed and numerous more were injured when gunmen attacked a Malian army checkpoint outside of Bamako, according to officials on Friday, increasing concerns as jihadist group attacks come closer to the city.

[keypoints]

• Gunmen stormed a Malian army checkpoint killing six
• the post of Zantiguila was the target of an attack by unidentified gunmen
• Al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin continues to expand its operations outside its traditional strongholds
• Major cities including the capitals themselves are increasingly surrounded by insurgents

[/keypoints]

According to Amadou Sangho, spokesman for Mali’s Ministry of Security and Civil Protection, [quotation]Last night, the post of Zantiguila was the target of an attack by unidentified gunmen.[/quotation] From Bamako, the post is around 60 kilometres away.

Although no one has taken responsibility for the attack, it bears the hallmark of the JNIM, an al-Qaida-affiliated group that has been linked to several past incidents in and around Bamako.

The Zantiguila raid, according to Héni Nsaibia, a senior researcher at The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, [quotation]shows how the al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin continues to expand its operations outside its traditional strongholds in northern and central Mali.” [/quotation]

[quotation name=’Report’]“As in other Sahelian countries such as Burkina Faso and Niger, although to a lesser extent in the latter, major cities including the capitals themselves, are increasingly surrounded by a steady spread of Islamist militancy that poses an ever-increasing risk and challenge to the security environment.[/quotation]

Since 2012, Mali has fought to control an uprising of Islamic extremists. With the aid of a French-led military operation, extremist rebels were driven from power in Mali’s northern cities, but they later regrouped in the desert and started assaulting the Malian army and its allies. Attacks in the northern and central regions have made the situation tenser.

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