Several killed, dozens wounded in central Mali attack
The attack took place in Savare near a military camp housing Malian troops, UN peacekeepers and Russian Wagner fighters.
A bomb attack near a military camp and airport in central Mali killed at least nine people and injured dozens more, an official and a military spokesman said.
More than 60 people were injured in the attack in the Mopti region town of Savare early Saturday, Yacouba Maiga, a spokesman for the regional governor, told Reuters news agency.
“The blast destroyed about 20 houses in the area. There are a total of nine dead and about 60 injured, all civilians,” said Maiga.
Colonel Souleymane Dembele, spokesman for the Malian army, told the Associated Press news agency that at least 10 people were killed.
Responsibility for the attack was not immediately claimed.
Footage shared on social media showed several buildings, including a gas station destroyed by the explosion, and injured people being helped.
Savare residents said they were going to morning prayers at the mosque when they heard a loud explosion. “We heard gunshots. It was total confusion,” Ousmane Diallo, a villager in the area, told the AP.
Earlier on Saturday, the government of the West African country said in a statement on national television that “a terrorist attack” had been halted by the army in Savare.
“Three vehicles filled with explosives were destroyed by army drone fire,” the statement said, without providing further details on casualties.
‘A complex attack’
Al Jazeera’s Nicola Haque, reporting from Dakar, Senegal, said the attack happened at 5am (05:00 GMT), when most residents would have been asleep.
He added that the government described the incident as “a complex attack” on the airport in Sevare, which is home to a Malian security force base, UN peacekeepers and Russian fighters from the Wagner group.
“No one has claimed responsibility for this attack,” he said, adding that the governor in the region asked residents to donate blood urgently due to the high number of casualties.
The attack comes days after ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups reportedly took control of parts of the region.
Lassane Ouedraogo Wedraogo, a research fellow focusing on the Sahel region at the Center for Democracy and Development, said the attack most likely targeted Wagner mercenaries stationed at the camp.
He said it is difficult to pinpoint the group responsible for the attack as there are many armed groups operating in the region.
“But so far everything points to the JNIM group because this is the kind of attack they would do,” he said, using the initials of the Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin group, pointing out adding that they have recently criticized the presence of the Wagner troops in Mali.
Wagner mercenaries, deployed to Mali and the Central African Republic, are also currently fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine.