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BAMAKO, May 2 (Reuters) – Malian authorities are investigating soldiers suspected of involvement in last week’s coordinated attacks on army bases across the country by \u200cmilitants linked to al Qaeda and separatist Tuareg rebels, a judicial \u200cofficial said.<\/p>\n
The list of potential accomplices includes three active duty soldiers, a retired soldier and a soldier \u200bwho had been “dismissed” and was killed in fighting near the country’s main army base in Kati, 15 km outside the capital Bamako, said the statement from the prosecutor at the military tribunal in Bamako, which was read on state television late \u200con Friday.<\/p>\n
“The first arrests have \u2060been successfully carried out, and all other perpetrators, co-perpetrators, and accomplices are actively being sought,” said the statement, without specifying how \u2060many suspects had been identified and who specifically had been taken into custody.<\/p>\n
The simultaneous attacks beginning on the morning of April 25 showed how fighters from different groups with \u200bdifferent goals \u200bwere able to strike at the heart \u200bof the West African country’s \u200cmilitary government, which took power after coups in 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n
The defence minister was killed and Russian forces backing the government were forced out of the northern town of Kidal.<\/p>\n
The violence has set off fighting across Mali’s vast desert north, raising the prospect of significant gains by armed groups that have shown an increasing \u200cwillingness to strike neighbouring countries and, analysts \u200bsay, could eventually set their sights further afield.<\/p>\n
The \u200bal Qaeda-linked insurgents, known as Jama’at \u200bNusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), have called on Malians to rise up \u200cagainst the government and transition to \u200bSharia law.<\/p>\n
They have also \u200bvowed to besiege Bamako, and on Friday security sources said the group had set up checkpoints around the city of four million.<\/p>\n
Military leader Assimi \u200bGoita said in a \u200ctelevised address on Tuesday that the situation was under control, and vowed \u200bto “neutralise” the insurgent groups behind the attacks.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Bamako newsroom; Writing \u200bby Robbie Corey-Boulet, Editing by William Maclean)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n