Get you up to speed: UAE backed rebel checkpoints reported around Mali’s capital, northern town seized
Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has reportedly seized the town of Tessalit in northern Mali and set up checkpoints around the capital, Bamako. The latest developments follow a series of attacks that resulted in the killing of Mali’s defence minister, Sadio Camara.
JNIM called on Malians to “bring down the junta” and implement Islamic law, signalling an escalation in their campaign against the military government. According to reports, JNIM has taken control of multiple checkpoints around Bamako and the town of Tessalit in northern Mali.
The group’s recent activities include capturing the military base in Hombori and two checkpoints near Bamako, raising concerns about the Malian military’s lack of response to these advances.
Rebels establish checkpoints in Bamako, seize northern town Tessalit
Smoke rises at a military base in Hombori, Mali, in this still image obtained from an undated social media video released April 30, 2026. [Reuters]
Al-Qaeda-linked rebel fighters have reportedly set up checkpoints around Mali’s capital, Bamako, and seized the town of Tessalit in the north.
Reuters reported on Friday that Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has called on Malians to rise up to “bring down the junta”, and adopt Islamic law.
The latest developments come days after a series of attacks by JNIM and Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) resulted in the killing of the country’s defence minister, Sadio Camara.
Videos shared on social media by local accounts on Friday show armed fighters inside the Amachach base in Tessalit, with several military vehicles seen driving around.
Video verified by Reuters shows fighters driving through the town and raising the FLA flag.
Media outlets close to the Azawad armed movement, which seeks the independence of northern Mali, said the scenes show fighters in control of the base following the withdrawal of elements of the army and Russia’s African Corps, according to their description.
Russia is the principal foreign backer of Mali’s military-run government.
JNIM said on Thursday that it had captured the base of Hombori in central Mali and taken over two checkpoints near Bamako, after earlier threatening to completely besiege the city.
Russia’s African Corps said in a statement that the JNIM statement about the abandonment of the Hombori base was “not true”.
It said that its helicopters delivered ammunition and other items to Malian military personnel at a base in Hombori on Thursday, “after which soldiers of the Malian Armed Forces injured in battles with terrorists were evacuated”.
It noted that JNIM and AFL “continue to regroup, conduct reconnaissance of the bases of the units of the African Corps of the Russian Armed Forces and the Malian Army, and propaganda work is actively underway aimed at reducing the morale of the Malian Army”.
WTX News’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar in Senegal, reports that the absence of a response from the Malian military to the rebel advances is surprising, and that four major military camps in the north of the country are now in the hands of armed groups.
“That’s a big development,” Haque said. “It seems that Malian forces are not even putting up a fight up north.”
Mali’s military leaders seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, with a brief period of civilian rule in between. Official authorities are yet to issue a statement on the latest reports at the time of writing.