Attack shows Mali as jihadi breeding ground
The jihadi attack on a Mali resort popular with Westerners yesterday confirms the West African nation — a terrorist magnet since the 2011 fall of neighboring Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi — has re-awakened as an extremist breeding ground.
Suspected Islamic extremists attacked the Campement Kangaba hotel resort in Mali’s capital of Bamako yesterday, taking hostages at a spot popular with foreigners on the weekends. At least two were killed, including a dual French-Gabonese citizen, and 30 managed to escape, including a suspected attacker.
“It’s year five since Mali first erupted as a jihadist arena,” said Kamran Bokhari, a senior fellow with the Center for Global Policy and analyst with Geopolitical Futures. “I don’t know why it would be a tourist attraction in that country, but there hasn’t been much jihadist activity in recent times ... people go underground, and then they wait for an opportunity, when the coast is clear, or at least they perceive it to be clear.”
A witness who said a militant on a motorcycle entered the area around 3:40 p.m. and cried “Allahu akbar” before jumping off and running toward the pool area, followed by a car with three jihadis, who began firing their weapons.
In March 2015, five people died when terrorists hit a popular restaurant in Mali’s capital. A devastating attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako later that year left 20 dead.
That attack was jointly claimed by both the regional al-Qaeda affiliate and a group known as Al Mourabitoun, which was founded by Mokhtar Belmokhtar after he fell out with al-Qaeda leaders.
Malian soldiers entered the resort area to combat the attack. Moussa Ag Infahi, director of the national police, said three of the assailants had been killed while a fourth escaped.
Campement Kangaba, which features three swimming pools and other luxury accommodations, was reportedly hosting people affiliated with the French military as well as the U.N. and European Union missions in the country when the attack occurred.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came amid the final week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In predominantly Muslim Mali, people have been fasting from sunrise to sundown for three weeks.
Bokhari said conditions are ripe for jihadi recruitment in Mali and neighboring nations.
“There is the ultimate problem where governance is very weak in these areas, and there are political, economic and social crises that jihadist groups can exploit,” Bokhari said. “That’s the same as ISIS in Raqqa and Iraq, and for the groups in Mali.”
The violence came about a week after the U.S. State Department warned of possible attacks on Western diplomatic missions and other locations in Bamako, Mali, that Westerners frequent.
Religious extremism in Mali once was limited to northern areas, prompting the French military in 2013 to lead a military operation to oust jihadists from power in the major towns in the north. But the militants have continued targeting Malian forces and peacekeepers, making it the deadliest U.N. mission in the world.