The tactics were familiar – suicide bombers blowing a gap in defences to allow gunmen to reached stunned defenders – but the operation marked a major escalation. In more than a decade of insurgent warfare in Mali, al-Qaida had never struck any target of such significance or so close to the capital, Bamako.
The attack last month on the base in Kati underlined the tenacity of the organisation in Africa and elsewhere despite decades of intense pressure from a US-led counter-terrorist campaign and fierce rivalry from a breakaway faction that became the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
This story is from the August 06, 2022 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the August 06, 2022 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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