BAMAKO, May 2 (Reuters) – Malian authorities are investigating soldiers suspected of involvement in last week’s coordinated attacks on army bases across the country by militants linked to al Qaeda and separatist Tuareg rebels, a judicial official said.
The list of potential accomplices includes three active duty soldiers, a retired soldier and a soldier who had been “dismissed” and was killed in fighting near the country’s main army base in Kati, 15 km outside the capital Bamako, said the statement from the prosecutor at the military tribunal in Bamako, which was read on state television late on Friday.
“The first arrests have been successfully carried out, and all other perpetrators, co-perpetrators, and accomplices are actively being sought,” said the statement, without specifying how many suspects had been identified and who specifically had been taken into custody.
The simultaneous attacks beginning on the morning of April 25 showed how fighters from different groups with different goals were able to strike at the heart of the West African country’s military government, which took power after coups in 2020 and 2021.
The defence minister was killed and Russian forces backing the government were forced out of the northern town of Kidal.
The violence has set off fighting across Mali’s vast desert north, raising the prospect of significant gains by armed groups that have shown an increasing willingness to strike neighbouring countries and, analysts say, could eventually set their sights further afield.
The al Qaeda-linked insurgents, known as Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), have called on Malians to rise up against the government and transition to Sharia law.
They have also vowed to besiege Bamako, and on Friday security sources said the group had set up checkpoints around the city of four million.
Military leader Assimi Goita said in a televised address on Tuesday that the situation was under control, and vowed to “neutralise” the insurgent groups behind the attacks.
(Reporting by Bamako newsroom; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet, Editing by William Maclean)
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