The Katiba Macina, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Mali targeting the garrison town of Kati at the gates of the capital Bamako, in a press release authenticated on Saturday July 23 by the American NGO SITE, specializing in monitoring radical groups.

The Malian army had already attributed the attack committed with two truck bombs to the Katiba Macina jihadists on Friday.

It killed at least one Malian soldier, injured six, including a civilian, while seven assailants were "neutralized" and eight others arrested.

On the outskirts of Bamako, Kati is the heart of the Malian military apparatus, near the residence of the head of the ruling junta Assimi Goïta and its powerful defense minister, Colonel Sadio Camara.

On Friday, "a brigade of mujahideen carried out a blessed operation against the Malian army, the unjust killer of innocents, at the most notorious place in the capital Bamako, near the headquarters of the president and the Ministry of Defense" , the statement said.

Degraded security context

The Katiba Macina claims to have operated with two suicide bombers, including a Burkinabè, and "commando fighters". 

"If you have the right to hire mercenaries to kill defenseless innocents, then we have the right to destroy and target you," the statement continued.

The Malian army has intensified its anti-jihadist operations for a few months by relying on what it presents as Russian instructors, in reality paramilitaries from the Russian private security group Wagner, present in Mali since the beginning of 2021 according to Western diplomats.

Despite a very degraded security context, the junta turned away from France and its partners, preferring to rely on Russia to try to stem the spread of jihadism which has spread to a large part of the country, as well as Burkina. Faso and neighboring Niger.

The main coalition is the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, JNIM in Arabic), affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

The GSIM, whose influence on the ground continues to expand, includes a myriad of groups including the Katiba Macina and operates mainly in Mali and Burkina Faso.

With AFP

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