Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists attack Bamako as Malian troops battle violent Islamist insurgency in north

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00:00An uneasy calm in Bamako, one day after the first insurgent attack on Mali's capital in

00:07years.

00:08The ruling junta claims to have repelled the assault by al-Qaida affiliated militants.

00:13Jamaat Nusrat claims to have taken out six military aircraft.

00:19Clarisse Fortunet has the story.

00:23The first gunshots were heard in the early hours of the morning.

00:31A simultaneous attack in two places.

00:34The gendarmerie school in the Falale district and a military zone near Bamako airport.

00:40A group affiliated to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack, asserting to have caused enormous

00:46losses of life and property.

00:49The Malian army did not give details of any casualties, but tried to reassure the population.

00:55State television broadcast images of the alleged assailants.

00:58I really wanted to reassure the Malian people that they can go about their business freely.

01:03The situation has been taken under control by the Malian armed forces.

01:07The terrorists who were infiltrated have been neutralised.

01:09But a sense of chaos seems to have sweeping through the capital.

01:13Videos circulating on social networks showed a shard body of a man.

01:17He was allegedly lynched by the crowd, who accused him of being a terrorist.

01:24Since 6am people have been mobilised.

01:26People are anxious.

01:27I came here at 9am and found many people in the population has been very supportive of

01:31the police.

01:32They were even the ones who apprehended many of the attackers.

01:37The army is calling on the population to avoid confusion in order to prevent reprisals against

01:42certain communities.

01:44At a time when certain regions of Mali are still the scene of almost daily attacks, the

01:49capital had been spared until now, since an attack on a hotel in 2016.

01:56And for more, we turn to security analyst and consultant Niagare Bagarko.

01:59Thank you for being with us here on France 24.

02:03We've been trying to piece together and speak with people in Bamako this Wednesday.

02:10There's a kind of fog of war when it comes to what happened.

02:14Exactly.

02:15It's a common view when you are talking to people based in Bamako to say, but you know,

02:22it seems that it was only a small incident and that the military have been able to stop

02:29the attack.

02:31Everything is safe now and you can see that the airport is now reopened.

02:37So there are, in fact, not kind of a panic more generally.

02:45We cannot consider that the population at large is frightened by what we've seen on

02:52the images that you are showing presently.

02:56Would you qualify this as the most danger Bamako has been in since 2012, 2013?

03:04Since 2015, I would say, and 2016, because in 2015, it is when the attack on the Radisson

03:15Blue happened.

03:16It was a major terror attack, but the big difference was that civilians were targeted

03:22at the time.

03:23Now, it's only been directed to military.

03:30First students in the gendarmerie school at first, and then at the airport, because it

03:38seems that the Jihadi have been able to come into the military part of the airport.

03:44Because in Bamako, you have first the civilian part, the international airport, but you also

03:49have this part, which is a military base.

03:53And then it seems that they also have been able to put fire to the presidential aircraft,

04:01which is something rather amazing.

04:05It's been talked about a lot on social media.

04:07So there's the spin and the counter spin.

04:10There's what the junta has been saying and what the insurgents have been saying.

04:13They claim to have taken out six military aircraft.

04:16They also claim to have inflicted casualties upon Russian mercenaries.

04:22We don't have any confirmation.

04:24No, there is no confirmation because the Malian military has not given any count of the number

04:32of people killed.

04:33They said that, yes, there have been people who died, but we definitely don't know how

04:39many.

04:40But on the part of the Jihadi, they are saying that they have been able also to attack drones,

04:48which were based in this military part of the airport.

04:54And they are also saying that hundreds of Malian and Russian soldiers were killed.

05:01But today, we have absolutely no images.

05:05But it can happen that they will show them afterwards.

05:09And it happens very often that we can see what they have been able to achieve later

05:16a long time ago, rather long time ago, after the attack itself.

05:20Is there, in your view, right now, the junta in Mali, is it in the same position that the

05:28junta is in in Burkina Faso, which is on the back foot?

05:33Or do they have a plan?

05:35Is it different?

05:36No, I think it is completely different because, you know, one of the major strategic objectives

05:42of the Malian authority is to address the autonomous insurgency in the northern part

05:49of the country.

05:50And a lot of military troops and equipment are deployed in the northern part of Mali.

05:59And a very bloody battle happened in July, where lots of Malian soldiers and Russian

06:08as well have been killed.

06:09And this has not been denied by the authorities.

06:13It was in Tino Wazen.

06:15But the question is, are most of the Malian soldiers and Russians deployed in the northern

06:23part of the country?

06:25And is the capital enough secured with enough troops, et cetera?

06:31But it seems that the authorities have been able to reassure the population.

06:36And today, it is really very difficult to know what really happened yesterday.

06:42Nnegeri Bakayoko, many thanks for being with us here on France 24.

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