Mali: Jnim jihadists claim attack on Kati garrison town
An armored personnel carrier is seen at the main military base after heavy gunfire was heard early on Friday, in Kati, outside the capital Bamako, Mali July 22, 2022. REUTERS - STRINGER
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The Support Group for Islam and Muslims (Jnim, its acronym in Arabic) claimed responsibility this Saturday, July 23 for the attack committed yesterday against the camp in the garrison town of Kati.
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The press release from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (Jnim) first gives already known details of
the operation that took place against the Kati military camp
: the double explosion of car bombs with suicide bombers on board, then attacking selected targets.
But the Jnim then specifies that the home of Colonel Assimi Goïta, head of the junta, and that of his Minister of Defense, Colonel Sadio Camara, were among the targets.
"
If your right is to buy mercenaries
[likely reference to Wagner],
our right is to target you
," the same statement also read.
"
We have seen in recent months and weeks a threat that is approaching the capital
," observes Alain Antil, director of the sub-Saharan Africa center at the French Institute for International Relations (Ifri).
“
To hit Kati is to hit the barracks closest to Bamako where the putschist colonels come from.
It is therefore a gesture that must be analyzed politically.
»
“
The Katiba Macina, which is inserted in the Jnim, is in a dynamic of revenge for the operations carried out by the Malian army in the center of the country in recent months.
Operations which caused victims among the civilians, in particular during the sad expedition of Moura,
recalls the researcher.
We are sure that there were jihadists in the locality, but there are also many people who were not and who were killed on suspicion.
Malian security analysts had warned that these operations would generate vengeful Katiba Macina operations in the direction of Bamako or in Bamako.
In Mali, the jihadist attack was condemned by several political parties and associations.
Some are even calling for a sacred union to deal with the situation, a situation that worries observers.
“
The use of many suicide bombers, the concomitance of several attacks and the targeting of the epicenter of power, all of this makes one think rather of a rise in power of the jihadists
”, comments one of them.
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mali
Assimi Goita