Fighting has intensified in northern Mali as Al-Qaeda-linked militants and Tuareg separatists battle government forces and Russian-backed fighters for control of a strategic military camp in Anefis. The coordinated offensive, launched on Saturday by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), comes just over two months after the groups captured the key northern city of Kidal and killed Mali’s defence minister during another major assault. The FLA claimed control of Anefis, a strategically important location about 100 kilometres from Kidal, but fighting continued around a military camp where Russian Africa Corps personnel and Malian soldiers remained positioned.
Security sources said JNIM fighters and FLA forces launched attacks using artillery, while Russian paramilitaries reportedly responded with drone strikes. FLA reinforcements arrived in the area on Monday with dozens of armed vehicles, according to local officials. Malian military sources said government reinforcements travelling from Gao were forced to retreat after coming under attack. Between five and eight military vehicles were reportedly destroyed in the ambush, according to Wamaps, a regional security monitoring group. The Malian army said its aircraft carried out strikes against “strategic targets” and positions in Anefis, claiming several JNIM and FLA fighters were killed.
The African Union condemned the attacks, warning that terrorism and violent extremism remain a major threat to Mali, the wider Sahel region and the African continent. Mali has been ruled by a military government since coups in 2020 and 2021. The junta came to power promising to restore security in a country battling an armed insurgency since 2012, but violence has continued to spread across large parts of the nation. The latest fighting highlights the growing security challenges facing Mali after the departure of foreign forces and the replacement of Russia’s Wagner Group with Africa Corps, a Russian state-linked military formation supporting the junta.
