BAMAKO, Mali — The Malian army launched air strikes Wednesday close to a village that witnesses mentioned had been seized by extremists with ties to the Islamic State group.
Witnesses reported the takeover of Talataye, in Mali’s northern Gao area, on Tuesday. The event has renewed fears extremists would once more develop their attain following the Aug. 15 departure of French troops final after almost a decade of battling insurgents.
“Islamic State fighters attacked our place within the village of Talataye and our combating unit lastly withdrew from the village,” mentioned Fahad Ag Almahmoud, secretary basic of GATIA, an umbrella group representing previously armed teams that signed a peace settlement with the Malian authorities.
However Almahmoud mentioned it is unclear whether or not the militants management the village following the air strikes.
“Final we heard, the Islamic State fighters took management of the village all night time, however this morning there have been air strikes by the Malian military on the positioning. At this second, we nonetheless don’t know if they’re nonetheless within the village or if they’ve withdrawn,” he mentioned.
Extremist teams have prior to now briefly seized cities and vilages. In September 2016, al-Qaeda-linked fighters took management of the central city of Boni earlier than abandoning the city a day after the assault. Final month Islamic State-linked militants briefly took management of the city of Tessit within the Menaka area.
However some observers concern that the Malian military and its U.N. allies shall be unable to maintain extremists from regaining energy with out French army help.
In 2012, extremists seized energy in main cities throughout Mali’s north, implementing strict Islamic legislation referred to as Shariah that included amputating the arms of suspected thieves and publicly whipping girls for carrying clothes deemed too revealing.
The extremists fled into the encircling desert when former colonial energy France launched a army intervention in 2013. They’ve spent the final decade attacking the Malian army and a U.N. peacekeeping power making an attempt to stabilize the nation.
Frustration with the assaults helped gas help for coup chief Col. Assimi Goita, who overthrew Mali’s democratically elected president two years in the past. Goita and his junta assured Malians that they might do a greater job of beating again the insurgents. However spiraling tensions between Goita and France resulted in final month’s pullout of two,400 French troops.
———
Related Press author Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed.