At least 10 Malian soldiers were killed after insurgents overran a military camp in central Mali on Sunday, temporarily seizing control of the base and capturing weapons and military equipment.
The attack targeted an army camp in San, where residents reported heavy explosions and sustained gunfire during clashes in the early hours of 9 August.
A security source told AFP that the camp had been “temporarily occupied by the attackers”, with a provisional death toll of “around 10 soldiers killed”.
Local residents also described intense fighting before calm eventually returned.
“I can confirm that it was a terrorist attack. We heard loud explosions and continuous exchanges of fire,” a resident of San, who declined to be identified, told AFP. He added that “calm has returned”.
Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the assault, saying its fighters had taken control of the military position following clashes with Malian forces.
In a video released after the attack, a JNIM spokesperson said: “We launched an assault on a Malian Army military camp in the San region on 9 August 2026. At the end of the operation, our men took full control of the camp after killing several Malian soldiers and burning or destroying some of the military vehicles belonging to our enemies.
“After the army abandoned the camp, we seized several items of military equipment, including three vehicles, four 12.7mm heavy machine guns, one 14.5mm weapon, one RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher, four PKMs and seven AK-47s, as well as ammunition and communications equipment.”
The claims regarding the weapons seized and equipment destroyed have not been independently verified.
The attack marks another setback for Mali’s military authorities as they confront a persistent insurgency across several parts of the country.
JNIM has also threatened to intensify attacks against Malian military personnel during August, raising the prospect of further pressure on government forces already fighting armed groups across multiple fronts.
The San assault comes amid continued instability in Mali, where the military government and its security partners have struggled to contain armed groups operating across large parts of the country despite repeated military operations.
