Separatists claim responsibility for attacks in Mali, say they collaborated with al-Qaeda subgroup

Separatists in northern Mali have claimed responsibility for a coordinated attack with Islamist militant groups that wounded at least 16 people in several parts of the country.

The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack for the first time and said it had collaborated with the al-Qaeda subgroup JNIM in the coordinated shootings.

Multiple gunshots and several explosions erupted in Mali's capital, Bamako, and several other parts of the country yesterday, after which the government army announced that it had eliminated unidentified attackers.

"The operation was carried out in partnership with JNIM, which is also dedicated to defending the people from the military regime in Bamako," FLA spokesman Mohamed el Mauloud Ramadan said.

Mali's government spokesman, Issa Ousmane Coulibaly, said on state television last night that 16 people, including soldiers and civilians, were injured in the attacks, and that several separatists were killed.

A three-day curfew has been imposed in Bamako, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day.

The separatists also called on Russia to "reconsider its support for the military junta in Bamako, whose actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population," noting that military governments in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have sought Moscow's help, rather than the West, in suppressing militant groups.

Separatists yesterday, according to officials, captured the city of Kidal and parts of the city of Gao in the northeast of the country.

In 2012, the FLA unsuccessfully attempted to form its own state of Azawad and secede from Mali.