Published On 4/7/2026
Armed groups launched military attacks on government forces and Russian paramilitary forces in northern and central Mali, one of which was on Kinyuruba prison, located 70 kilometers from the capital, Bamako, in the latest armed attack.
The Malian army said that it repelled attempts to attack its positions in several regions in the north, center and south of the country.
Agence France-Presse said that the fighting began at four in the morning (local time and Greenwich Mean Time), according to sources who confirmed that it was continuing.
The French Agency quoted sources as saying that the attacks targeted Gao, Aguelhoc, Nevis (north), and Sevare (centre). The spokesman for the Front for the Liberation of Azawad, Mohamed Mouloud Ramadane, told the French Agency that their forces had entered Nevis, adding, “Several sites have fallen, but the fighting is still continuing inside the city.”
A resident said that armed groups are present in the city, but the army is still resisting and the camp has not fallen yet.
Nevis and Aguelhoc are the last two locations where the Malian army maintains a presence in the Kidal region, following the attacks of 25 and 26 April.
The battles come more than two months after massive attacks carried out by the “Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin”, which is linked to Al-Qaeda, and the Front for the Liberation of Azawad in late April.
Government and Russian forces were deployed in Nevis following the April attacks, during which the Front for the Liberation of Azawad and the Al-Qaeda branch in the region were able to extend control over the city of Kidal.
Attack on a prison near the capital
In Sevare, in the center of the country, a security source told Agence France-Presse that explosions occurred around five in the morning, but their source was not yet known. Shortly afterwards, several aircraft were seen flying over the area.
The main Kinyoruba prison complex, where militants are being held, was also attacked, located only a few tens of kilometers from the capital, Bamako.
A prisoner who was contacted by phone by the French newspaper said: “We are under our beds, and the shooting is continuing.”
In the city of Gao in the center of the country, a local official said that gunfire and missiles had targeted an army camp since before dawn on Saturday, adding that it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.
This attack is the latest challenge facing the military government in the country located in the African Sahel region, after militants launched prominent attacks in April targeting the airport of the capital, Bamako, and led to the killing of the Minister of Defense and the control of a number of military bases in the north of the country.
