Bamako, April 26, (dpa/GNA) – Malian authorities on Sunday, declared a night-time curfew for Bamako, following coordinated attacks on targets in the capital and other locations.
The curfew will be enforced between 9 pm and 6 am, the regional governor said.
Islamist attacks were reported in Bamako and elsewhere in the country on Saturday. By evening, the situation had been brought under control, following searches in the capital and the other cities affected, according to the military junta which has ruled the country since May last year.
Bamako’s airport has been reopened after being closed in response to fighting in its vicinity.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, said that he was “deeply concerned” over the situation in the landlocked West African country, and called for “coordinated international support to address the evolving threat of violent extremism and terrorism in the Sahel and to meet urgent humanitarian needs.”
There have been repeated attacks by the JNIM Salafist jihadi group, an al-Qaeda affiliate formed in 2017, and the renewed attacks are being seen as a massive escalation by the group.
The UN’s MINUSMA mission attempted to stabilize the security situation in the former French colony between 2013 and 2023, when the government asked it to leave.
GNA