Mali’s military said it carried out air operations in the western, gold-producing region of Kayes after al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) announced a blockade aimed at cutting fuel supplies to Bamako and restricting movement around Kayes and Nioro near the Senegal and Mauritania borders.
Residents said militants have stopped and siphoned fuel from trucks since the announcement. A Malian army statement said operations in Diema and Nioro targeted the armed group; a colonel stationed in Nioro told state television that the response included airstrikes and that troops had freed people held by the militants.
The push comes as Mali’s junta, in power since coups in 2020 and 2021, faces mounting pressure from insurgents seeking to encircle population centers in the Sahel. “JNIM is increasing pressure to weaken the authorities and asphyxiate the capital,” said Djenabou Cisse, a research fellow with the Foundation for Strategic Research.
Trucking firms have paused trips on the Bamako–Dakar corridor, a Malian truckers’ union official said, adding that the road toward Segou in the south had also been blocked. On Friday, six Senegalese truck drivers were abducted in Mali and released the next day, according to a Senegalese truckers’ union.
Since May, jihadists have struck Malian and foreign-owned businesses in Kayes, including cement and sugar plants and mining sites. Multinational miners such as Barrick and B2Gold operate in the region. A security analyst in Bamako said the militants’ rapid move to enforce the blockade underscored their growing capability, with the apparent aim of stoking public anger and eroding confidence in the transitional authorities.