At least 49 people were killed in a terrorist attack in Mali this Thursday. Likewise, fifteen more soldiers died in an attack on a military base and 50 terrorists were killed in an operation intended to respond to the two previous attacks. But in a place where no one is looking, the numbers are never accurate. There may be a few more. Maybe there are fewer. It is only clear that the number of deaths from jihadism in Mali is increasing and there is no end in sight, while the Malian government is barely able to get the situation under control with its help newly acquired weapons of Russian production (Su-25 aircraft), Chinese (troop transport vehicles) and Turkish (Bayraktar TB2 drones).
The attack on civilians it was treason. The transport ship Timbuktu plied the waters of the Niger River, which runs from the town of Gao to Mopti, in an area increasingly affected by the jihadist insurgency, with dozens of wealthy civilians on board: children, tame bleating goats and shackled chickens. on the legs. This was not a military ship. And the terrorists of JNIM group opened fire at 11 am on Thursday and killed them.. The Malian government has declared three days of national mourning over the incidents, although its inherent fear of the military junta, whose defeats are in direct contradiction to its seemingly victorious propaganda line, prevents a thorough understanding of the events. It is known that they were killed.
This is the second attack of its kind in a week. On September 1, another ship from the same shipping company en route from Mopti to Timbuktu was subjected to a “heavy weapons (missile) attack” by the jihadists. The tally recorded one death, a 12-year-old boy and two injuries.
Almost simultaneously with the attack on the ship, the terrorists launched another operation this Thursday against the Malian military base Bamba in Gao, in which another 15 soldiers were killed, bringing the number of victims to 64, the official number they have known since Bamako. The Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) organized a rapid counterattack in response to the jihadist actions and managed to kill fifty terroristsas stated in Statement No. 58 of the Interim Government: “In response to this double attack, a combined air and ground operation enabled our brave FAMA to neutralize fifty terrorists.”
The situation of jihadism in Mali is getting worse after the military junta ordered the withdrawal of the blue helmets as a result of a series of incidents with the United Nations representatives in the country, but also with its Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Up to 12,000 soldiers and police officers who were actively involved in stabilizing the center and north of the country are currently in the withdrawal process with the associated consequences. LA RAZÓN has already reported A few weeks ago, new tensions arose between the Tuareg secessionists and the FAMA (supported by a Wagner group, whose future is now uncertain) over control of the Ber base, recently abandoned by the UN contingent and 60 kilometers from the city of Timbuktu.
Timbuktu, whose entrances have been cordoned off by the jihadists for a month. Trucks from Algeria and Mauritania are banned from entering the city as the cost of living has skyrocketed and civilians fear an impending attack. Last week’s river attacks were due to this blockage. The worsening of Malian insecurity is a logical consequence of the withdrawal of MINUSMA (the United Nations mission in the country), the withdrawal of 2,400 French soldiers in August last year and reducing the European Union’s EUTM Mali Training and Advisory Force to a minimum, all in exchange for an unspecified number, about 1,000 soldiers, Wagner mercenaries.