Malian authorities have announced an investigation into soldiers suspected of involvement in a wave of simultaneous attacks on army bases across the country last week, which were claimed by an al-Qaeda affiliate and separatist groups.

A prosecutor at a military tribunal near the capital, Bamako, stated on Friday that five suspects have been identified, including three active-duty soldiers, one retired individual, and a soldier who was killed in fighting near a Bamako army base.

“The first arrests have been successfully carried out, and all other perpetrators, co-perpetrators, and accomplices are actively being sought,” the statement read.

The coordinated assault on the morning of April 25 struck at the heart of the West African country’s military government, which came to power after coups in 2020 and 2021.

The defense minister was killed, and Russian forces backing the government were forced out of the northern town of Kidal, which is now controlled by the al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Tuareg separatists of the Liberation Front for Azawad (FLA).

The violence has triggered fighting across Mali’s vast desert north, raising the prospect of significant gains by armed groups that have shown an increasing willingness to strike neighboring countries.

JNIM has called on Malians to rise up against the government and transition to Islamic law. The group has also pledged to besiege Bamako, and on Friday security sources told Reuters that it had set up checkpoints around the city of four million.

Military leader Assimi Goita said in a televised address on Tuesday that the situation was under control and promised to “neutralize” the armed groups behind the attacks.

Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German think tank, said the “big test” will be whether the government can hold on to larger cities in the north, such as Timbuktu and Gao. “If they also fall, then anything might happen,” Laessing told Al Jazeera.

Source: www.aljazeera.com