Jihadists and their separatist Tuareg allies hit Mali with fresh coordinated attacks Saturday, striking multiple towns and a prison, according to the army, residents, and security sources.
The fighting, which started around 5:00 am (0500 GMT), came more than two months after the same groups staged attacks against the ruling junta in which the country’s defence minister was killed.
The attacks were reported in Gao, Anefis, Aguelhok, and Sevare, as well as a prison in Kenieroba.
Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesman for the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), an ethnic Tuareg separatist movement, told AFP that “several positions have fallen, but fighting is still underway inside the city” of Anefis.
A resident there contacted by AFP said that “armed groups are in the town, but the army is still putting up resistance. The camp (there) has not yet fallen”.
