In Mali, Al-Qaeda Collects Taxes and Russian Rifles
In early September, near Kaka in central Mali, al-Qaeda’s local branch ambushed Malian soldiers and their Russian escorts, then showed off its loot, Russian rifles included. Since April, the jihadists have killed a defence minister, besieged the capital and attacked army camps. Moscow’s men, meanwhile, keep making headlines in human rights reports.
The loot
In early September, near the village of Kaka in central Mali's Mopti region, the Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), al-Qaeda's branch in the Sahel, ambushed Malian soldiers and fighters of the Africa Corps, the paramilitary force run by Russia's defence ministry. Thirteen Russian and Malian soldiers were killed, according to reports cited by the Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi. JNIM listed its loot: 14 motorcycles, two machine guns, six assault rifles, six grenades and a drone. In photos of the haul, analysts spotted AK-15s, a recent Russian rifle, apparently captured for the first time.
A peaceful transition, by car bomb
On April 25, JNIM and the Tuareg separatists of the Azawad Liberation Front struck across the country. In Kati, the garrison town next to Bamako, a suicide car bomb killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara. In the north, the Africa Corps pulled out of Kidal after striking a deal with the insurgents. About 200 Malian soldiers were left behind and taken prisoner, according to Human Rights Watch. "The Russians betrayed us in Kidal," a senior Malian official told RFI. JNIM then declared a total siege of the capital and called for a common front to topple the junta and open "a peaceful and inclusive transition".
A summer of ambushes
On July 18, JNIM and the separatists ambushed an army convoy leaving Anéfis, in the north: more than 50 soldiers were killed and at least 24 captured, according to a local official close to the junta. Some were executed on the spot, an army source told AFP. The Russian paramilitaries, other sources said, had already reached Gao, the convoy's destination.
"No Russians were killed. The dead are from the army and the state-backed militias."— A community leader in the Gao region, to AFP, July 2026
On September 10, JNIM stormed the Dioura army camp in the Mopti region. The toll ranges from at least 100 soldiers and five Russian paramilitaries, according to AFP, to 150 dead and 93 prisoners, according to JNIM. The army gave no figures, but hailed the evacuation of "two companies that heroically held the garrison".
Sharia, proportionately
In the villages it has held for years, JNIM levies its own taxes, recruits young men and enforces sharia, Human Rights Watch reports. Asked about civilians who break its rules, the group replied that they are punished in proportion to their offence, under sharia.
"Leniently in some cases and strictly in others."— JNIM, written reply to Human Rights Watch, June 2026
Strictly, for instance, for a Quranic teacher it abducted and publicly executed in May. To enforce its siege, it also burned more than 40 civilian vehicles bound for Bamako, buses included.
Counter-terrorism, Russian style
The junta's Russian allies have their own method. On June 15, Africa Corps aircraft struck Kyrnia, a JNIM-held village: eight civilians died, three of them children. No jihadist was known to be killed: most were at the mosque, which was spared. On July 10, at dawn, more than 100 Africa Corps fighters raided the Fulani quarter of Bombori, which the jihadists had left the night before. They shot six villagers who tried to flee and executed three others, one of them beheaded. Four of the nine dead were children. The junta appears to have given its Russian partners "a green light to kill civilians", says Human Rights Watch.
Kidal, round trip
On October 6, the army and the Africa Corps returned to Kidal without a fight. The separatists had left a few hours earlier, in what they called a "strategic and controlled withdrawal". Their spokesman blamed the Russians' "disproportionate use of aerial assets". Al-Qaeda's allies, too, believe in proportion. An analyst told Reuters that retaking the largely deserted city was mostly symbolic.
In Bombori, al-Qaeda's sharia has ruled for nine years. Russia's counter-terrorism needed one morning to kill nine villagers.
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