Two attacks in central Mali claimed by the Al‑Qaeda‑linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) have killed more than 30 people, according to local security and administrative sources cited by AFP on Thursday.
The assaults took place on Wednesday in the villages of Korikori and Gomossogou, near‑simultaneously, and were described by a youth official as killing at least 35 people. Both a security source and an administrative source confirmed a death toll exceeding 30, while WAMAPS, a network of West African journalists covering Sahel security, reported a provisional figure of more than 50 villagers killed and several individuals still missing. The group said the villages were looted and some properties set on fire.
According to the security source, the attacks were retaliation for actions by the Dan Nan Ambassagou militia – a self‑defence group composed mainly of traditional Dogon hunters that has resisted orders to disband after being implicated in a 2019 massacre in Ogossagou that left 160 dead. The source added that most victims were militiamen, but that teenagers and children were also among the dead.
The Malian army announced it had carried out a “targeted operation against terrorist armed groups” in the area and claimed to have neutralised around a dozen fighters, without providing further details.
The recent violence follows a wave of attacks that began less than two weeks earlier, when jihadist and separatist forces launched a coordinated offensive against junta positions, plunging the country into a fresh security crisis. On 25‑26 April, JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) struck strategic towns, including Kidal in the desert north and Kati, a garrison town near Bamako. Defence Minister Sadio Camara, the architect of Mali’s military partnership with Russia, was killed by a car bomb at his residence during that period. The northern towns have since fallen under FLA and jihadist control, and a blockade on Bamako has been imposed.
Central Mali has a history of deadly incidents. In February 2020, a raid in Ogossagou killed roughly 30 Fulani villagers. In March 2022, around 300 civilians were massacred in Moura, an attack attributed by Human Rights Watch to the Malian army and its foreign allies, likely Russian Wagner mercenaries. In June 2022, JNIM claimed responsibility for the killing of more than 130 civilians in Diallassagou.
Following the recent attacks, security, legal and family sources reported a series of arrests and abductions of opposition figures and military personnel. The military prosecutor’s office claimed to have “solid evidence” of the “complicity” of certain soldiers in the planning and execution of the assaults. A political official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the wave of detentions as a witch‑hunt aimed at purging political opponents and elements of the army.
Since the 2020 coups, Mali has remained under military rule, grappling with an entrenched security crisis driven by Al‑Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates, local criminal gangs and separatist movements. On 30 April, JNIM called for a “common front” to end the junta and initiate a peaceful, inclusive transition. The international community continues to monitor the rapidly evolving situation and its implications for stability across the Sahel region.
