In Mali, a new attack by the Cadre Stratégique Permanent (CSP) rebels has taken place. The target was the Malian military camp in Dioura, in the Mopti region, on the evening of September 28th.
In Mali, the Cadre Stratégique Permanent claims to have attacked this camp in the late afternoon of Thursday, September 28th, taken control after two hours of fighting, and then withdrawn around midnight. This follows the same modus operandi as the two previous attacks claimed by the CSP in Bourem on September 12 and Léré on September 17. These are rapid attacks during which CSP forces seize military equipment and leave the area to avoid airstrikes from the Malian Armed Forces (Fama).
Neither the CSP nor the Malian army has provided any casualty figures for the Dioura attack at this time. During previous attacks, contradictory and unverifiable reports from independent sources mentioned dozens of deaths and prisoners—some of whom were later released by the CSP for health reasons.
On Thursday evening, the Fama reported that they had faced a “complex terrorist attack” in Dioura, characterized as a “kamikaze” attack. The Malian military claims to have sent reinforcements and destroyed a convoy of vehicles, heavy weapons, and motorcycles during their response. The CSP disputes this account.
The Dioura camp is located in the Tenenkou region of the Mopti region in the central part of the country. It is not within the sphere of influence of the CSP, which controls territories in northern Mali. Notably, Dioura had previously been attacked multiple times by northern rebels in 2012 and 2015, and the military camp is only about a hundred kilometers from the Timbuktu region.