Bamako: On Monday, a Malian Army Base was attacked and shells were removed at the airport in the northern city of Timbaktu, where heavy shelling was heard, the army said, local authorities and residents said.Junta-ruled Mali has since faced attacks of al-Qaeda and Islamic State Group as well as separatist movements and criminal gangs.For several months in 2012, jihadis controlled Timbaktu’s trapped desert city.General employees of the army said in a statement that it thwarted an attempt by terrorist fighters to infiltrate the Timbaktu camp “at 10.00 am (local and GMT).It states that 13 attackers were “neutralized”, without saying that others were victims.“This discovery is going on throughout the Timbaktu city,” said this.The office of the city governor said that the attackers tried to make their way into the military camp and shells were started at the airport, which is two kilometers (more than a mile) from the city.The situation is “under control”, it was added on social media.No information about potential military or civil victims was immediately available.Later during the day, a security source said that the operation in the camp was “already finished” and the attackers “were everywhere in the city.The source said, “They did not raid the airport as Russia is present there. But they launched the shells. It is hot everywhere.”A local official said that “terrorist” in Timbaktu “” arrived “with a vehicle with explosives. “The explosion occurred near the vehicle (military) camp,” the official said.The United Nations employees were instructed to “take the shelter” and “shooting in the city of Timbaktu” in a message to “stay away from windows”.A resident has heard “heavy shelling in the city”, which comes from the edge of the camp “(military) camp.
under fire:
Speaking by telephone, a local journalist said that “the city is on fire”.“Our city was attacked by terrorist groups this morning. Shots were heard near the military camp and airport. We all returned home,” he said.The ancient city of Timbaktu, once known as the “city of 333 saints” for Muslim holy men, was under major destruction in 2012 under the control of jihadis for several months.Jihadis flowing in the city considered pilgrims about idols and destroyed them with picax and bulldozers.The ancient city was withdrawn peacefully with the support of the French military forces under the operation unique in late January 2013, which was deployed to prevent the advance of jihadis in Mali.Since the confiscation of power in couples in 2020 and 2021, Mali’s military rulers broke the traditional ties of the country with their former colonial power France and went closer to Russia.The jihadi group and the Malian Army and the Russian paramilitary group Wagner are accused of abusing citizens regularly against their associates.In September, Jihadis attacked a police academy and since 2016 the first attack in Malian capital climbed the military airport in Bamako. The attacks have reduced the claims of Junta that its new foreign partnership and increase in military efforts have changed the tide against jihadis.
