BAMAKO: A Malian army base came under attack on Monday and shells were fired at the airport in the northern city of Timbuktu where heavy gunfire was heard, the army, local officials and residents said.Junta-ruled Mali has since 2012 faced attacks from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group as well as separatist movements and criminal gangs.For several months in 2012, jihadists took control of the fabled desert city of Timbuktu.The army’s general staff said in a statement that it had “thwarted an attempt by terrorist fighters to infiltrate the Timbuktu camp” at around 10.00 am (local and GMT).It added that 13 attackers were “neutralised”, without saying if there had been other victims.“The search is under way throughout the city of Timbuktu,” it added.The attackers tried to force their way into the military camp and shells were launched at the airport, which is two kilometres (just over a mile) from the city, the city governor’s office said.The situation is “under control”, it added on social media.No information on possible military or civilian victims was immediately available.Later in the day, a security source said that operations in the camp were “already over” and that the attackers were “everywhere in the city”.“They did not raid the airport because the Russians are there. But they launched shells. It’s hot everywhere,” the source added.A local official said the “terrorists” arrived in Timbuktu “with a vehicle packed with explosives”. “The vehicle exploded near the (military) camp,” the official said.UN staff were instructed in a message “to take shelter” and “stay away from windows” due to “shooting in the city of Timbuktu”.A resident reported having heard “heavy gunfire in the city” which “seems to come from the side of the (military) camp”.

Under fire:

A local journalist speaking by telephone said “the city is under fire”.“This morning our city was attacked by terrorist groups. Shots were heard near the military camp and the airport. We all returned home,” he said.The ancient city of Timbuktu, once known as the “city of 333 saints” for the Muslim holy men buried there, was subject to major destruction while under the control of jihadists for several months in 2012.The jihadists who swept into the city considered the shrines idolatrous and destroyed them with pickaxes and bulldozers.The ancient city was peacefully retaken in late January 2013 with the support of French military forces under Operation Serval, deployed to halt the jihadists’ advance in Mali.Since seizing power in coups in 2020 and 2021, Mali’s military rulers have broken the country’s traditional ties with its former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia.Jihadist groups and the Malian army and its allies from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner are regularly accused of committing abuses against civilians.In September, jihadists attacked a police academy and stormed the military airport in Bamako, the first attack in the Malian capital since 2016. The attacks have undermined the junta’s claims that its new foreign partnerships and increased military effort have turned the tide against the jihadists.