Mali Conflict Sees Fresh Coordinated Attacks on Gao, Anefis and Prison Near Bamako

The Mali conflict escalated when Tuareg rebels from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) launched coordinated attacks on multiple towns and a prison across Mali on Saturday, striking Gao, Anefis, Aguelhok, Sevare and Kenieroba. The assaults began around 5:00 am local time. [1][2][3]

Coordinated Assaults Across Multiple Sites

Jihadists and their separatist Tuareg allies hit Mali with fresh coordinated attacks Saturday, striking multiple towns and a prison, according to the army, residents and security sources. The fighting, which started around 5:00 am (0500 GMT), came just over two months after the groups staged attacks against the ruling junta in which the country's defence minister was killed. [1] The new attacks were reported in the northern towns of Gao, Anefis and Aguelhok, plus the central town of Sevare and a prison at Kenieroba near the African nation's capital. [1][2]

FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told AFP that "several positions have fallen" in Anefis but that there was still fighting. [1] An Anefis resident told AFP that "armed groups are in the town, but the army is still putting up resistance. The camp (there) has not yet fallen". [1][2] In Gao, residents told AFP of gunfire and "loud blasts" near an army camp. [1] In the central town of Sevare, "explosions rang out... around 5:00 am, though their origin is not yet known. Shortly thereafter, several aircraft were spotted flying over the area", a security source told AFP. [1][2] The Kenieroba prison complex, where jihadists and others are held, was also under attack some 70 kilometres (40 miles) southwest of Bamako. "We are under our beds, the gunfire continues," one prisoner told AFP, before communications seemed to be cut off. [1] The Kenieroba Central Detention Center is the largest modern penal facility in Mali, with a more than 2,500-prisoner capacity. [1]

Link to April Offensive and Kidal's Fall

The latest fighting came more than two months after the same rebel groups staged attacks against the military-led government, hitting the airport in the capital Bamako, killing the defence minister and seizing a string of army bases in the north. [3][4] In their joint assault in April, the Tuareg rebels and jihadists took Kidal, which had been lost in November 2023 to the Malian army and allied fighters from the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary force now replaced by Moscow's Africa Corps paramilitary group. [1] The northern towns of Anefis and Aguelhok are the last remaining locations where Mali's army maintains a presence in the Kidal region, following the massive attacks of April 25 and 26. [1][2][3] In a major blow to the junta, the strategic northern city of Kidal fell to the FLA in April. [1]

Alliance Between Tuareg Separatists and JNIM

Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) teamed up with the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) approximately a year ago, before launching their first coordinated attacks on April 25-26. [1] The FLA and JNIM have allied against Mali’s army and its Russian partners from Africa Corps, a Kremlin-controlled Russian paramilitary force that remained in Mali after the Wagner Group announced its withdrawal from the country in June 2025. [3] Meanwhile, the JNIM had since September been waging a series of attacks on fuel tanker convoys heading for Mali's capital, which reached its peak last October. [1]

Jihadists and Tuareg rebels launch coordinated attacks on Gao, Anefis, Sevare and a prison near Bamako. — Source: punchnigeria

Mali's Ongoing Security Crisis Since 2012

Mali has been grappling with a security crisis since 2012 over attacks by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group and community-based criminal groups and separatists. [1] Since coups in 2020 and 2021, Mali has been led by the military, which promised to restore security as the vast desert nation grappled with a jihadist insurgency and separatist demands from Tuareg groups. [1] Mali junta leader General Assimi Goita has aligned the country with Russia, turning its back on its former colonial power France. [1] The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali. [4]

Reported Abuses and Regional Comparisons

Both jihadists plus the Malian army and its Russian allies have committed "grave abuses" against civilians since the April attacks, Human Rights Watch said in a report last month. [1] The April attacks were reminiscent of a 2012 crisis when Tuareg rebels allied with jihadists captured strategic hubs in the country's vast, remote north. [1] A historically nomadic people, Tuaregs, who are spread across Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso, have waged an armed struggle for decades against marginalisation, with action centred in particular around Kidal. [1]

Junta Aligns with Africa Corps After Kidal Loss

Government and Russian troops deployed in Anefis in the wake of the April attacks in which the FLA and the regional al Qaeda affiliate seized control of Kidal town in a major blow to the ruling military junta. [3][4] Mali's junta, in power since 2020-2021 coups, has aligned with Russian paramilitary forces now known as Africa Corps after the April loss of Kidal. [3]

Malian army convoy travels between Anefis and Gao during 2013 northern conflict. — Source: rfi

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The FLA spokesman reported that several positions had fallen in Anefis, though fighting continued and the army camp had not yet been taken, while gunfire continued inside the Kenieroba prison complex.