This is an unprecedented attack. Friday, July 22, around 5 a.m., strong explosions followed by heavy gunfire disturbed the peace of the inhabitants of Kati, a garrison town just 15 km from the capital Bamako. The terrorists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, targeted the Soundiata-Keïta camp in Kati, inside which resides in particular the transitional president, Colonel Assimi Goita.
A series of attacks targeted military premises in the center
The attack was carried out by a commando composed in particular of suicide bombers. They blew up their vehicle full of explosives. Fighters tried to infiltrate the camp. A member of the Malian defense forces was killed, six other people including a civilian were injured, according to a statement from the general staff. Seven assailants were neutralized, eight arrested, again according to the army. The administrative city which brings together most of the ministries as well as the prime minister’s office has been closed, the occupants freed. Access to the airport was disrupted, the level of security being raised.
This offensive comes the day after a series of six attacks targeting military bases in the center of the country. In all, they killed three people and caused extensive material damage. According to an analyst who requested anonymity, these assaults were only a diversion to better prepare the attack on Kati: “This makes it possible to mobilize the armed forces on other fronts and to cover their tracks. » According to the now usual language of the army, these are “desperate attempts” of “cornered terrorists”. Almost the same formulas were used to describe Kati’s attack.
Malians wonder
But on social networks, on a still minimal scale, some Malians are wondering. Isn’t this attack against a strategic armed camp an illustration of a deteriorating security situation? The psychosis did not spread among the population of Bamako and Kati. A large part of the inhabitants maintains its support for the transitional authorities and the army. Knowing how such an attack could have happened thus goes into the background, it’s time for a sacred union. Most of the political parties, many of which have differences with the prime minister – to the point of having asked for his resignation before the attacks – reiterated their support for the army.
However, after the offensives against the military camps of Sévaré, Bapho and Niono in the center of the country last April, the terrorists of the GSIM had threatened, in an audio message, Colonel Assimi Goïta and the capital, of attacks by scales which, from sporadic, become recurrent in the south of the country. Those recent against Koutiala, less than 280 km from the capital, against Kolokani at 103 km, and Friday against Kati at only 15 km, indicate that for several months, the terrorists, in particular those of the GSIM, seek to extend their zone of influence by threatening the South.