An attack blamed on jihadists against their post in the center of the country left ten Malian soldiers dead on Wednesday (February 3).

The attack was carried out two weeks before a Franco-Sahelian summit devoted to security in the region. 

Tadayt, a propaganda body close to Al-Qaeda, attributed the attack to the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, or Jnim in Arabic), a jihadist alliance affiliated with Al-Qaeda. 

It is the deadliest in 2021 against the Malian forces, who have lost hundreds of such men in recent years.

Rarely, the attackers used an armored vehicle, according to a security official and a spokesperson for the French army. 

Heavily armed attackers 

The Boni post, between Douentza and Hombori, in the Mopti region, was attacked around 6 a.m. local time and GMT, "by heavily armed individuals in armored vehicles", he said. 

Ten bodies were transported by a helicopter from the UN mission (Minusma) to Sévaré airport, near Mopti, and eight wounded evacuated to a hospital, local officials said on condition of anonymity. following common practice for such information. 

The attack caused significant damage to the camp, according to one of the security officials. 

The Malian army indicated on social networks that it had received air support from Barkhane, the French anti-jihadist force in the Sahel.

Information confirmed to AFP by the spokesperson for the French army: Colonel Frédéric Barbry reported the intervention of a drone, as well as Mirages 2000 and two Tiger helicopters which carried out several strikes . 

"The Malian armed forces carried out a tactical withdrawal and regrouped outside the camp to contain the attackers and call for reinforcements," he explained, noting "about twenty neutralized jihadists" and specifying that the armored vehicle as well as 16 motorcycles had been destroyed. 

"This morning, fighters from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims took control of the renegade army's military base in the village of Boni. Praise be to God, and glory," wrote Tadayt, close to 'Al Qaeda, via Telegram messaging. 

Vehicle theft 

We do not know the provenance of the armored vehicle.

But as they did again in Boni, the jihadists, who travel by motorbike and pick-up, commonly take equipment to the scene of their attacks. 

"The jihadists have taken at least a dozen armored vehicles from the Malian, Burkinabè and Nigerien forces in recent years," explains Héni Nsaibia, researcher at the Acled project, specializing in the collection of data relating to conflicts.

These armored vehicles can then be found from one country to another. 

The sector has recently been the scene of intense operations, such as the operation called Eclipse and joint with the Malian and French armies.

The Malian army reported on January 26 that Eclipse had "neutralized" a hundred jihadists. 

In this area, three French soldiers were killed by an artisanal mine at the end of December, and six Malian soldiers were killed in two attacks at the end of January. 

G5 Sahel Summit 

The sector is an area of ​​sparse forests and bush overhung by a rocky massif where elements of the GSIM are located.

Other groups, linked for their part to the Islamic State organization, are also present in the region. 

Since 2012 and the outbreak of independence and then jihadist rebellions in the North, Mali has been sinking into a multifaceted crisis that has left thousands of dead, civilians and combatants, and hundreds of thousands displaced, despite the support of the international community. and the intervention of UN, African and French forces. 

The violence has spread to the center of the country, which has become one of its main centers, and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

The armed groups that appeared in 2015 in central Mali thrived on ancient antagonisms linked to the land, between pastoralists and farmers and between Fulani, Bambara and Dogon ethnic groups. 

They attack whatever remains of the state's representation and foment or stir up these tensions.

Community "self-defense groups" are also accused of abuses. 

A summit is due to bring together the G5 Sahel countries (Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad) on February 15 and 16 in N'Djamena to take stock of the security situation in the sub-region, with a horizon of a possible resizing of Barkhane. 

With AFP

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