Islamic State group (IS) has claimed responsibility for a complex attack on an army base in eastern Mali on 3 December, saying the operation killed or wounded 30 soldiers and Russian Wagner fighters.
The Malian army had announced on 4 December repelling this attack and a few others in the eastern Menaka region, but reports suggested that dozens of soldiers were killed in the suspected IS attacks.
IS issued the claim in the name of its “Sahel Province” branch, through an “exclusive” report in the group’s weekly newspaper al-Naba on 7 December, said Zagazola Makama, a security Analyst and counter-insurgency expert in the Lakechad region and west Africa.
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The terrorist group said that around half an hour before the attack on the military base in the area of Labbezanga on the border with Niger, IS militants blew up a telecommunications mast in Menaka as a diversion, to free militants to carry out “the main attack” on the army site.
IS said the base was jointly used by the Malian army (FAMa) and Wagner forces. It claimed militants carried out “the surprise attack” on the military site using “heavy fire” and a variety of “light, medium and heavy weapons.”
It said the operation killed or wounded “around 30” and forced the rest to flee, allegedly allowing the terrorist to “take full control” of the base, before “burning it down” and withdrawing.
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The group also claimed that it burned 10 military vehicles and seized four others that are mounted with machine guns. It also allegedly seized “big quantities” of weapons and ammunition from the base.
Al-Naba featured an “exclusive” image (above) claiming to show IS militants “in control” of the military site.
IS said the attack came in response to “ongoing crimes” by the army and Wagner against “Muslim civilians… around Menaka city” over suspicions of their affiliation with or loyalty to the group.