On 17 September 2024, gunmen attacked several locations across Bamako, the capital of Mali, including police and military installations. About 100 people were killed and more than 255 others were injured.[1] The Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an Islamist militant group affiliated with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility.[2][3]
The attacks began in the early morning of 17 September 2024 at around 05:00,[7] when gunmen attacked several locations across Bamako including the Banankabougou neighbourhood,[4] the Faladie military police school[8] housing elite units of the Malian gendarmerie[9] in the southeast of Bamako, and the nearby military airport,[4] which the JNIM claimed to have fully taken.[2] The attacks prompted the closure of Modibo Keita International Airport, which adjoins the military airport,[10] while clashes were also reported at a police station controlling access to the former.[2] The JNIM claimed to have destroyed six aircraft,[11] including several fighter planes,[9] and a drone, and opened fire at a drone platform[11] and the presidential hangar of the military airport. An aircraft used for humanitarian work by the World Food Programme was also damaged on the ground,[12] according to its owner, the South African–based National Airways Corporation, adding that its crew and staff were secured in a safe house.[13] The attackers were also said to have set fire to several buildings and infrastructure.[14]
The attacks lasted for about nine hours[14] before being finally put down by Malian government forces later in the day, with the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Major General Oumar Diarra visiting the Faladie school and stating that all the "terrorists" who attacked the facility had been "neutralised".[15]
Casualties
No official numbers of casualties were released by authorities.[16] As such, estimates of the casualties varied, with the death toll ranging from 81 to more than 100, while 255 others were injured. Among the dead were 50 military police students who were buried on 19 September.[3] At least 20 militants were believed to have been captured,[2] while the JNIM acknowledged the loss of a few dozen of its fighters[14] while inflicting "hundreds" of casualties, including on members of the Wagner Group.[3] One security person of the United Nations was also injured.[17]
In the aftermath of the attack, one person was set on fire by residents on suspicion of being a militant.[18]
Reactions
Mali's military government downplayed the incident with officials stating the situation was "under control" and the attack had been repelled. Officials later admitted the military had suffered casualties.[14]
The attacks were condemned by multiple countries and organisations including the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS, Senegal, France and the United Kingdom.[12][19] The World Food Programme said the loss of one of its aircraft at Bamako Airport "reduces our humanitarian response capacity", noting that the plane was used to "transport aid workers and provide emergency humanitarian aid in remote areas of Mali".[14]
Criticism of the attacks within Mali was limited due to severe restrictions on freedom of expression by the ruling military junta, with the exception of a few media outlets such as the Senegalese newspaper Nouvel Horizon, which wrote that it was "time to apportion blame at all levels".[7] On 19 September, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, the governor of Bamako, ordered the indefinite closure of seven livestock markets in the city for "reasons of public order", raising concerns that it was being used to target members of the Fulani ethnic group, who operate most of the markets and are accused of supporting Islamist militants due to high membership rates in the said groups.[20]
On 24 September, Mali's military leader Assimi Goïta held a meeting with the country's defence establishment to review security arrangements and "adjust strategy". Goita also paid tribute to the victims of the attack, adding that it showed "the imperative need to remain vigilant and maintain an exemplary operational stance in all circumstances".[21]
Jean-Herve Jezequel, Sahel project director at the International Crisis Group, said that one possible reason for the attack could be that "the jihadists are trying to send a message to the Malian authorities that they can hit them anywhere and therefore that the big cities must also be protected". He said the militants may want to force Mali to concentrate its resources in areas where more people live and deploy fewer troops in rural areas where the jihadists have their strongholds.[7]
In neighbouring Burkina Faso, the government banned the Voice of America from broadcasting in the country for three months starting in October 2024, citing a journalist calling the attack in Bamako "courageous" among other reasons.[22]
