Amarana Malga
17 May 2026•Mise à jour: 17 May 2026
More than a dozen air strikes attributed to the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) were recorded Sunday morning in the Kidal region, in northern Mali, according to several corroborating sources contacted by Anadolu.
According to these local and security sources, the Malian army has been carrying out a large-scale air offensive operation since the early hours of the day in and around Kidal, a strategic town in the north of the country, the scene of fighting between government forces and the rebels of the Front de Liberation of Azawad (FLA) and their terrorist allies from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
At this stage, the Malian general staff has not published any official statement concerning these new strikes.
On social networks, members and supporters of the FLA accused the Russian paramilitary group Africa Corps of having used “atomic bombs” during air strikes carried out in Aguelhoc. However, no independent source has been able to confirm these accusations.
On the night of May 13 to 14, the Malian army had already carried out at least four air strikes on Kidal.
The Azawad Liberation Front claimed on the evening of Saturday April 25, 2026 to have taken “total control” of the city of Kidal following an operation carried out with the support of the JNIM.
The Malian transitional authorities, for their part, assured that they had contained coordinated attacks carried out on Saturday April 25, 2026, against several cities, including Bamako, Kati, Sévaré, Gao and Kidal.
The government reported 16 injuries among civilians and soldiers, saying that security forces had “neutralized several attackers” and regained control of the targeted areas.
In a message broadcast recently, Africa Corps indicated that its instructors were continuing training for the benefit of the FAMa, in particular for search and helicopter attack operations, welcoming “the increase in professional skills” of Malian soldiers and their “will to resist terrorists “.
