19/09/2024
Mali’s 🇲🇱 security situation remained unclear on Wednesday after insurgents attacked an elite police training academy and other strategic areas on Tuesday, killing trainees, overrunning part of the airport and setting the presidential jet alight.
Military leader Assimi Goita’s government has not confirmed the death toll, but said on state television on Tuesday evening that there had been “some” deaths. A video that circulated online showed sleeping quarters with around two dozen bunk beds in tight formation that had been torched. Several charred bodies can be seen, some under the beds.The al Qaeda-linked group, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), said in statement on Wednesday that “hundreds of enemy soldiers were killed and wounded” in the attack that also saw the destruction of six military aircrafts including a drone, while four others were partially disabled.
On Tuesday, videos posted to JNIM’s social media accounts showed armed men shooting into a VIP terminal at the airport and setting fire to a government-owned Boeing 737 plane on the tarmac.Wagner’s base is located at the airport, as well as some Malian drones and war planes.
Al Jazeera English
