On Tuesday 17 September, the sun had barely risen over the Niger River when gunfire and explosions occurred in Bamako, near the gendarmerie school in the Faladié district. On amateur videos circulating on social networks and others received by The worldA large amount of black smoke was coming out of it. According to a Malian official, at 08:30 GMT the shots were still ringing out, but the situation was “in the process of being controlled”.
The gendarmerie school houses, in particular, the headquarters of the elite units of the gendarmerie, the Rapid Action Intervention and Surveillance Group (Garsi) and the Intervention Platoon of the National Gendarmerie (PIGN). The identity and number of the attackers are unknown and no complaint has yet been made, but according to the aforementioned official, there is no “There is not much doubt” what is it about “jihadists”.
A version confirmed by the General Staff of the armies that, on the social network“A group of terrorists tried to infiltrate the Faladié gendarmerie school,” adding that “Sweeping operations are currently underway throughout the area” and so? “The situation is under control.” Bamako airport, located about ten kilometres further south, was temporarily closed.
Affront
The last major attack in the heart of the Malian capital dates back to March 21, 2016, and the attack on the Nord-Sud hotel, headquarters of the Malian army training mission on behalf of the European Union (EU), which resulted in the death of one man. one attacker.
On 22 July 2022, a complex car bomb attack, claimed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), targeted the Kati military camp, about fifteen kilometres north of Bamako, a garrison town and stronghold of the military junta led by Colonel Assimi Goïta. An affront to the military in power, who have made the reconquest of national sovereignty the alpha and omega of their policy.
Whether by chance or not, the attack comes five days before Independence Day, September 22. But also on the opening day of the trial for the purchase of the presidential plane and military equipment by the regime of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK), overthrown on August 18, 2020 by the junta of Colonel Goïta, in which several civilian and military figures are accused of corruption. The meeting would be held at the court of appeal, near the gendarmerie school where some of the accused are detained, such as General Moustapha Drabo and Colonel-Major Nouhoum Dabitao. Among the other accused are several relatives and former ministers of IBK.
