The 2016 Nampala attack was an armed assault against a

Malian Army The Malian Armed Forces (french: links=no, Forces Armées Maliennes) consists of the Army (french: Armée de Terre, links=no), Republic of Mali Air Force (french: Force Aérienne de la Republique du Mali, links=no), and National Guard (french: G ...

base in the

Niono Cercle Niono Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Ségou Region of Mali. The administrative center (''chef-lieu'') is the town of Niono. The cercle is divided into 12 communes:. Names of communes are in upper-case without accents. *Diabaly * ...

subdivision of the

Ségou Region Ségou Region ( Bambara: ߛߋߓߎ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Segu Dineja) is an administrative region in Mali, situated in the centre of the country with an area of , around 5% of Mali. The region is bordered by Sikasso Region on the south, Tombouctou a ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

on 19 July 2016, that left at least 17 government soldiers dead and 35 others injured. The Katiba Macina,

al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims to o ...

and the ethnic

Fula Fula may refer to: *Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe) *Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani) **The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language **The Fula variety known as the Pular language **The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde *Al-Fula ...

(or Fulani) militant group National Alliance for the Protection of Fulani Identity and the Restoration of Justice (ANSIPRJ) claimed joint responsibility.

Background

Following the 2011 Libyan Civil War,

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Alg ...

s fighting in the

Libyan Arab Republic Muammar Gaddafi became the ''de facto'' leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. After the king had fled the country, the Revolutionary Comma ...

Libyan Army The Libyan Army ( ar, الجيش الليبي) is the brand for a number of separate military forces in Libya, which are under the command of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). Since December 2015 the groups of t ...

fled to northern Mali with large stockpiles of heavy weapons. The ensuing insurgency quickly led to the

Azawadi declaration of independence On 6 April 2012, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (French acronym: MNLA) unilaterally declared Azawad independent from the Republic of Mali in the wake of a rebellion which was preceded by a string of other Tuareg rebellions. ...

and consequent armed Islamist insurgency by MOJWA and

Ansar Dine Ansar Dine ( ar, أنصار الدين ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''; meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD) was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. An ...

against the secular MNLA. This led to Operation Serval being launched by France in January 2013, followed by

Operation Barkhane Operation Barkhane was an anti-insurgent operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region.the capital Bamako as well as in Kidal during March 2015. In November of that same year a co-ordinated attack against the

Radisson Blu Radisson Blu is an international chain of hotels operated by Radisson Hotels. With roots dating back to the 1960s, the Radisson Blu brand name came into existence in 2009 with a rebranding from Radisson SAS. Its hotels are found in major cities, ...

hotel in

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger Rive ...

resulted in more than 20 casualties, most of them hostages. A week later militants attacked a

MINUSMA The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (, MINUSMA) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. MINUSMA was established on 25 April 2013 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2100 to stabilise t ...

base in Kidal, killing 3 and injuring dozens. Attacks continued at a steady pace during 2016. Militants attacked and briefly captured a MINUSMA police base in

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

on 5 February, killing a high-ranking Malian commander, while suffering four casualties themselves. On 11 February suspected Islamist militants attacked a customs post in the town of Mopti, central

, killing two civilians and a customs officer. A truck bombing at a MINUSMA base in Kidal killed at least 5 UN peacekeepers and injured more than 30 others on 12 February. Gunmen attacked a military checkpoint in Léré on 24 February, killing at least three soldiers and wounding two others. On 12 April three

French soldiers French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

were killed and another was wounded when a bomb exploded under their vehicle near

Tessalit Tessalit is a rural commune and village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village is the administrative centre of Tessalit Cercle (district). The village lies north of Adjelhoc and about from the Algerian border. The ''commune'' extends o ...

. MINUSMA suffered two major attacks during May - five Chadian peacekeepers were killed and three others wounded in an ambush near Aguelhok on the 18th, while five Togolese soldiers were killed and another was injured in a similar attack near

Sévaré Sévaré (or Sevare) is a town in the Mopti Region of Mali. It is a crossroads town of about 40,000 situated about southeast of Mopti and south of Fatoma, the old capital of Kunaari. From Sévaré one can access Bandiagara to the east, G ...

on the 29th. On 1 June four UN mission staff were killed in two separate mortar attacks near

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

, including a Chinese peacekeeper, as well as a French expert and two local security guards. Two Malian soldiers were killed in an attack near Dinangourou on 10 July, while the deputy mayor of the Ouro Modi commune was shot on the following day in Mopti.

Attack

The attack took place in the early hours of 19 July 2016, at a Malian Army camp near the town of Nampala, in the rural commune of

Nampalari Nampalari is a rural commune in the Cercle of Niono in the Ségou Region of Mali. The commune has an area of 5,111 square kilometers and contains 22 villages. In the 2009 census it had a population of 11,052. The ''chef-lieu'' is the village of ...

near the border with Mauritania, about 500 km northeast of the capital Bamako. A group of heavily armed men reportedly overran the base, and set parts of it on fire, as Malian troops retreated to nearby

Diabaly Diabaly is a small town and rural commune in the Cercle of Niono in the Ségou Region of Mali. The commune has an area of approximately and includes 28 villages as well as the town.. In the 2009 census the commune had a population of 35,266. Th ...

in order to regroup, according to Army spokesman Souleymane Maiga. The attackers also partially burned and looted the nearby town of Nampala, before fleeing. A group called Katiba Macina, reportedly linked to

, initially claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. The same group had previously claimed several attacks on the army during 2015. Later a representative of ANSIPRJ contacted The Associated Press and claimed they had carried out the attack in response to attacks by government forces against Fula civilians. The group's spokesman Oumar Aldjana claimed they had gained possession of several trucks and stockpiles of ammunition, and that only three of the militants had been wounded during the assault. Malian Army spokesman Maiga later confirmed that three groups had staged the coordinated attack, with

attacking from the north, the Katiba waited in ambush outside town, and the ethnic Fula group joining from the southeast.

Reactions

In the immediate aftermath of the attack,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (; 29 January 1945 – 16 January 2022), often known by his initials IBK, was a Malian politician who served as the president of Mali from September 2013 to August 2020, when he was forced to resign in the 2020 Malian cou ...

called a security meeting together with the country's

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Modibo Keita Modibo or more correctlyMoodibbo in Fula or Fulfulde Orthography is a given name in some Fulɓe or Fulani regions, while in some regions it's used as a form of respect which means a learned scholar. Others are named moodibbo after one's parents or g ...

and the commanders of the Armed Forces. Defence Minister Tièman Hubert Coulibaly later appeared on state television to confirm the death toll, saying that the armed forces will "make sure that this coordinated terrorist attack ... is met with an appropriate response". On 20 July the government declared a three-day period of mourning for the 17 soldiers killed and extended a state of emergency for 10 days across the entire country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nampala attack Battles of the Mali War in 2016 Terrorist incidents in Mali in 2016 Mass murder in 2016 Islamic terrorism in Mali Terrorist incidents attributed to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Ségou Region in the Mali War July 2016 events in Africa Battles in 2016

Background

Attack

Reactions

See also

References