JNIM insurgents kill dozens in Mali base and attack Timbuktu, say sources

An Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group active in West Africa's Sahel region has claimed an attack on a military base in Mali on Sunday that two sources said had killed more than 30 soldiers.

In a separate attack on Monday, the group, Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), said it targeted a military airport and Russian mercenaries in the northern city of Timbuktu, where residents described taking cover from explosions and gunfire.

More than 400 soldiers have reportedly been killed by insurgents since the start of May in bases and towns in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, an unstable region prone to coups.

Sunday's attack in central Mali hit a military base in Boulkessi, near the border with Burkina Faso.

The Malian army said in a statement it had been forced to pull back after dogged defence, but gave no casualty numbers.

Two security sources said more than 30 soldiers had been killed.

A municipal source at Mondoro, near the base, said there were many dead.

Videos shared online showed dozens of insurgents overrunning the base. One showed militants stepping on the bodies of soldiers who had fallen between sandbags. Reuters could not immediately authenticate the videos.

In Timbuktu, the assailants hit multiple positions with heavy gunfire and shelling, residents said.

"There was panic, people are locked in their homes, we don't know what's going on," one resident told Reuters, before relative calm returned to the city.

Mali's army said on X on Monday afternoon that the situation was under control and that 13 jihadists had been killed.

"Based on the evidence that is emerging, the scale of the assault and the immediate claims by JNIM suggests this was a long-term and carefully planned attack," said Byron Cabrol, senior Africa analyst at Dragonfly.

JNIM has claimed a host of recent attacks in the region.

On May 24 it said it had assaulted a base in Dioura, in central Mali, killing 40 soldiers.

Last Friday it said it had seized a base in Sirakorola in southwestern Mali, although the army said it had repelled the attack. It did not provide a toll for that incident either.

In neighbouring Burkina Faso, JNIM claimed attacks on military positions and the town of Djibo in mid-May in which it said it had killed 200 soldiers.

And in Niger, more than 100 soldiers were killed in two attacks in the Tahoua region on May 24 and the Dosso region on May 26, security sources said.

Neither Burkina Faso nor Niger has published a death toll.

All three countries are ruled by juntas that seized power between 2020 and 2023, citing the inability of civilian governments to stamp out jihadist insurgencies. All have cut ties with Western nations and turned to Russia for military support, but are still struggling to contain violence that has displaced millions.