Malian army helicopter crashes in capital city

While returning from an anti-jihadist operation, a helicopter of the Malian army crashed on Saturday in a residential area of the nation's capital, Bamako, according to the armed forces and sources.

The incident happened after an army supply mission was ambushed earlier on Saturday in the unrest-ridden north of the Sahel country.

“At around 1:10 pm, an attack helicopter of the Malian armed forces, returning from an operational mission, crashed in a residential area of Bamako”, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a statement.

It mentioned "possible victims" but did not provide a count.

Since 2012, when jihadist and separatist insurgencies first appeared in the nation's north, Mali has been dealing with a security crisis.

Under the condition of anonymity, a military officer claimed the crash happened in the Missabougou neighbourhood.

The area has been blocked off, a police officer said to AFP.

“The helicopter was returning from the Mauritanian border where it had intervened against jihadists”, another military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The Malian army withheld information about the operation, although local authorities in the northern Mali town of Nara claimed an attack had happened there early on Saturday.

"A supply mission of the Malian Armed Forces was ambushed just 10 kilometres from Mourdiah on the road to Nara”, the provincial government said, adding that no casualties had been reported yet.

An official delegation was ambushed on Tuesday close to Nara. The incident, which was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), took at least two more lives in addition to that of the president of Mali's transitional government's chief of staff.

At least nine people were killed and at least 60 others were hurt in a suspected terrorist attack on a military camp in Sevare, central Mali, earlier on Saturday morning, according to local authorities.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group-affiliated jihadists have intensified their operations in central Mali and the neighbouring countries of Niger and Burkina Faso.

More than two million people have fled their homes in the region, and thousands of civilians, police officers, and soldiers have been slain.

Since August 2020, the military has been in charge of the Sahelian nation.

Source