The Malian army said it had foiled an attack on a military camp in Timbuktu on Monday morning. Local officials and eyewitnesses said a car bomb exploded in town centre, followed by gunfire.
The Malian Armed Forces reported 13 deaths, all among the assailants. “The terrorists were quickly defeated by the swiftness of the soldiers’ reaction”, the army said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
They said they had seized weaponry and automobiles, and that the situation was under sustain watch over.
Jihadist crew Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, has claimed responsibility for the attack, its 2d in two days.
On Sunday, JNIM attacked a military base in Boulkessi in central Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso, killing extra than 30 Malian soldiers, according to 2 security sources.
The Malian army said it had been compelled to drag back but did no longer affirm the sequence of casualties.
JNIM has claimed responsibility for several contemporary attacks in the location.
The Al-Qaeda-linked crew said it had killed 40 soldiers in an assault against a base in Dioura, in central Mali on 24 May 2025.
In total, extra than 400 soldiers have reportedly been killed by insurgents since the start of May across Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
The three countries are dominated by military juntas that took energy between 2020 and 2023 and pledged to discontinue jihadist violence.
The three regimes have since struggled to fulfill this commitment.
Additional sources • Jeune Afrique, Reuters
