A column of smoke rises above buildings in Bamako, Mali, on April 26, 2026. AFP
Mali now hangs by a very thin thread. On Sunday, April 26, the day after a series of attacks of an unprecedented scale and coordination on several cities across the country, the ruling junta had yet to recover from the extraordinary blow dealt by the jihadists of Nusrat al-Islam (GSIM, affiliated with Al-Qaeda), allied with the Tuareg pro-independence Azawad Liberation Front.
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Jihadists shake Mali junta with unprecedented attack
According to several witnesses contacted by Le Monde, gunfire continued to erupt on Sunday, particularly in Kati, the garrison town on the outskirts of Bamako where the ruling generals reside. Attackers from GSIM are still "holed up in buildings under construction and on the hills surrounding the city," explained a Malian soldier on the ground. In Sénou, where Bamako's international airport is located – and which was also targeted by the GSIM-FLA coalition on Saturday – "everyone is staying indoors. No one dares to go outside because the terrorists are still roaming, even though there has not been any fighting today," noted a local resident.
