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Mali: Five suicide bombers dead in failed attacks in the north
At least five suicide bombers died in northern Mali on Friday in attacks aimed at Malian and Nigerien troops which failed to inflict serious casualties on their targets, a spokesman for Mali’s army said.
One of the towns hit was Gossi, the furthest south al Qaeda-linked Islamists have struck in a guerrilla war launched against Malian and regional forces since the rebels were driven from their former strongholds in an offensive this year.
The attacks have had limited success so far but threaten to undermine international calls for elections to be held across Mali in July although security is not yet fully restored to a zone that was occupied by Islamists last year.
The suicide raids took place nearly simultaneously between 4 and 5 a.m. local time in Menaka and Gossi, near Gao.
“The first attack targeted Nigerien soldiers in Menaka. A car bomb entered the military camp, but the soldiers … destroyed the vehicle, which exploded,” Lieutenant Colonel Souleymane Maiga told reporters.
Hours after the attacks, Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou reiterated calls for elections due in July to be held across the entire country.
“No part of Mali should be deprived of the possibility of organizing an election,” Issoufou told journalists.
For this to happen, security forces will have to fend off further attacks by militants, who have struck in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu – northern Mali’s three main towns – and resolve a standoff in Kidal, which is still occupied by a mix of Tuareg-led separatist and Islamist rebels.
The administration in Mali, has said an offensive on the town is imminent but rights groups warn such an operation could lead to reprisal killings. Diplomats say they are seeking a solution that will allow elections to take place in Kidal and then talks organized between the Islamists and a new elected government.
It is expected that a joint African Union and United Nations peacekeeping force is to be established from July 1.
Underscoring Mali’s needs, the administration will next week begin sourcing for nearly two billion euros (US$2.6 billion) to help rebuild the country and try to prevent Islamists from taking advantage of the weak state.