Mali rocked by gunfire in multiple cities

Gunfire rocked several districts in junta-ruled Mali on Saturday, including Kati, the home area of military leader General Assimi Goïta, according to witnesses and a security source, News.Az reports, citing AFP.

Residents also reported fighting in the northern cities of Gao and Kidal, as well as in Sévaré in the central part of the country, which has been facing a prolonged jihadist insurgency for more than a decade.

The military authorities, who came to power through coups in 2020 and 2021, did not immediately comment on the incidents, and no group has claimed responsibility.

Helicopters were seen flying over the capital Bamako on Saturday, including above the international airport, AFP correspondents reported.

Mali, a resource-rich country with significant gold and mineral reserves, has been grappling since 2012 with insecurity driven by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, as well as armed separatist and criminal networks.

The military government, along with those in neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, has cut ties with former colonial power France and other Western partners, and has moved closer politically and militarily to Russia.

The US administration under President Donald Trump has sought to establish contacts with the three juntas, while Togo has acted as a mediator between Western countries and the Alliance of Sahel States formed by the three military-led governments.

Thousands have been killed in Mali’s conflict, and tens of thousands have fled to neighbouring countries such as Mauritania.

Russia’s Wagner Group, which had been operating alongside Malian forces against jihadists since 2021, announced the end of its mission in June 2025 and has been replaced by the Africa Corps, now under the direct control of Russia’s defence ministry.

Meanwhile, the junta has intensified restrictions on political opposition and dissolved political parties.

It had initially pledged a transition to civilian rule by March 2024, but in July 2025 extended General Goïta’s rule with a five-year presidential term, renewable indefinitely and without elections.

Since September, jihadists from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, have stepped up attacks on fuel tanker convoys, at times paralysing Bamako during the peak of the crisis in October.

Although there had been a period of relative calm, Bamako residents still faced diesel shortages in March, with available fuel prioritised for the energy sector.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev