Terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda destroyed a Mali prison, blocking food in Bamako | Articles of Controversy

Militants attack the ‘Alcatraz of Africa’, which houses expensive prisoners, disrupting the capital’s supply chain.

In a new attack in Mali, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda has attacked a large prison camp and set fire to food trucks heading to the capital, Bamako.

Fighters from the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) group seized the Kenieroba Central Prison, a recently built facility known as “Africa’s Alcatraz”, located 60 kilometers southwest of Bamako, Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque reported on Wednesday.

The detention center holds 2,500 prisoners, including at least 72 prisoners considered “high value” by the Malian government, Haque said, adding that the Malian military was repelling the attack.

Among the prisoners are JNIM freedom fighters and a number of people who have been arrested big attack last month and the group’s fighters and Tuareg separatists, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA).

The fighters attacked several military units in several cities, including areas where government officials live, and took control of the northern city of Kidal in a coordinated attack on April 25 and April 26, which struck the heart of the West African country’s military government.

One of these attacks killed Mali’s Minister of Defense Sadio Camara and his family at their home in Kati, a town near the country’s capital. On Monday, the head of the country’s military government, Assimi Goita. he became the minister of defense. Another 23 people have been killed in the violence.

Since then, “there have been arrests of former and current military officials, members of the public sector, lawyers, members of the political opposition – all accused of collaborating with al-Qaeda fighters,” said Haque, who has been reporting for years in Mali. He also said that terrorists linked to the armed group were also arrested.

Security officials told the AFP news agency that protesters Mountaga Tall, Youssouf Daba Diawara, and Moussa Djire were among those “abducted”.

According to relatives and security sources who spoke to the organization, Tall, a lawyer, was taken on May 2 in Bamako by masked men on charges of plotting with the opposition in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, to overthrow the military government. Since his arrest, Tall has been questioned only once for “attempted interference”.

Security sources said Diawara and Djire are believed to be linked to imam Mahmoud Dicko and Oumar Mariko, two exiled dissidents. At least two other people close to Mariko were also arrested following the attacks, a judicial source told AFP, without giving details.

The public prosecutor’s office on May 1 stated that it had “irrefutable evidence” of the “collusion” of some soldiers, accusing them of helping to “organize, coordinate and execute” the plots.

In a report published on Tuesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also stated that “there have been reports of extrajudicial killings and kidnappings, allegedly committed by security forces” after the attacks.

The violence has sparked a war across a large part of Mali’s desert, raising hopes of major gains by armed groups that have shown a willingness to attack neighboring countries.

JNIM has called on the people of Mali to attack the government and change Islamic law. The group has also promised to lay siege to Bamako, and on Friday, it is said to have done so set up a social network around the city of four million.

Haque said the shutdown could create a humanitarian crisis.

“These are al-Qaeda fighters who have pointed 12.7mm machine guns on their motorcycles, stopping any incoming or outgoing vehicles,” the reporter said. “We have seen on television that these terrorists are stopping trucks carrying food in order to enter the area. This blockade does not only affect the people living in Bamako, but it also affects people in the whole country of Mali.”

On May 3, the mayor of Diafarabe village in Mopti district asked the authorities to take action before people die of hunger because the food in the village has run out.