Tuareg separatists and jihadists waging a unified battle to bring down Mali’s junta have gained control of a key military camp in the north of the country.
Multiple sources have confirmed that the army and its Russian mercenary allies have surrendered the strategic Tessalit military base near the Algerian border.
A security source in Gao, south of the camp, told AFP journalists that “no clashes took place” during the capture of the base as regular troops had already evacuated.
An official from the Tuareg-dominated the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) separatist group said forces at Tessalit were scattering southward.
Friday’s assault follows large-scale, deadly attacks last weekend by FLA separatists and jihadist rebels on junta strongholds across Mali.
This resulted in the death of at least 23 people, including defence minister Sadio Camara, a key figure in the military-led government.
He died as a result of a car bomb at his residence in Kati, a garrison town near Bamako. During the series of attacks, the militants took the northern city of Kidal.
The Tuareg rebels later predicted they would conquer the country’s north and the junta would “fall”.
Tessalit serves as a strategic base due to its geographical location and features a well-maintained airstrip capable of accommodating helicopters and other large military aircraft.
It had hosted a significant number of Malian troops and their Russian allies, in addition to a substantial quantity of military equipment.
The fall of Tessalit comes a day after the al-Qaeda affiliate, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) tightened its blockade on the capital, Bamako.
In recent years, Mali, like neighbouring junta-led Burkina Faso and Niger, has cut ties with colonial power France and moved closer to Russia.
Russia has sent in mercenaries to help fight a long-running jihadist insurgency.
The three west African neighbours banded together to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which created a joint force it says numbers some 15,000 men.
The government of Niger said late on Thursday that the three countries had “conducted intense air campaigns” following the attacks in Mali on Saturday.
The coordinated attacks last weekend marked the largest assault in the west African country in nearly 15 years.
