Gao Military Camp Bombing (2017)
The Gao Military Camp Bombing occurred on January 18, 2017, when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at a military installation in Gao, Mali. This terrorist attack resulted in at least seventy-seven fatalities and over one hundred injuries, marking it as one of the deadliest in Malian history. The militant group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), through its affiliate al-Mourabitoun, claimed responsibility for the attack, which specifically targeted government troops and former rebel fighters who were collaborating on security initiatives following a peace agreement. The bombing coincided with a meeting aimed at discussing security strategies, highlighting the fragility of the ongoing peace process in the region.
In the context of the Northern Mali Conflict, this event underscores the escalating violence attributed to militant groups in the area, which have sought to impose their interpretations of Islamic law and undermine government authority. The attack prompted national mourning in Mali and raised concerns about the effectiveness of the government’s counterterrorism efforts. It also reflected the broader challenges faced by Mali, including ongoing instability and the struggle for peace following years of conflict involving various ethnic groups and radical organizations.
Subject Terms
Gao Military Camp Bombing (2017)
Date: January 18, 2017
Place: Gao, Mali
Summary
The Gao military camp bombing was a terrorist attack targeting an army camp in Gao, Mali, in which a terrorist detonated a car bomb, resulting in at least seventy-seven deaths and over one hundred injuries. The terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) announced that the attack, which targeted government troops preparing to go on patrol with former rebels, was carried out by AQIM affiliate al-Mourabitoun.
Key Events
- July 19, 2016—A group of armed militants attack a military base used by the Malian army in the Ségou Region, killing at least seventeen and injuring more than thirty.
- January 18, 2017—A suicide bomber detonates explosives in a vehicle in a military camp near Gao, Mali, killing seventy-seven and injuring at least one hundred.
Status
In the wake of the attack, which according to some sources was the deadliest terrorist attack in Malian history, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita declared a three-day period of national mourning. On the same day as the attack, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report criticizing the Malian government for failing to develop an effective response to the growing threat of terrorism in the nation. According to HRW, attacks by militant groups connected to al-Qaeda spread from northern to central Mali in 2015 and 2016, with militants imposing sharia (Islamic law) in captured villages, sometimes executing citizens who refuse to submit to their authority; the report also cited torture and other abuses on the part of government forces carrying out counterterrorism operations.
In-Depth Overview
The Northern Mali Conflict is a civil war in the North African nation of Mali that has been ongoing since 2012. The conflict began as a separatist movement among the nation's Tuareg minority, a Berber ethnic group native to the Sahara Desert. In 2012, a group of Tuareg separatists, calling themselves the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), joined with a radical, conservative Islamist organization called Ansar Dine, which is allied with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Qaeda's North African affiliate. Ansar Dine is one of a large number of radical militant groups that have emerged in the 2000s and 2010s with the goal of overthrowing governments seen as being controlled or allied with Western interests and installing traditionalist governments based on a conservative interpretation of Islamic law. Working together in 2012, the MNLA and Ansar Dine captured portions of northern Mali (known as Azawad), including the internationally famous cultural capital of Timbuktu. Shortly thereafter, Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda turned against the Tuareg MNLA and drove them out of Timbuktu and other rebel-controlled cities, including Gao and Kidal.
France, which once controlled Mali as a colony, sent troops to Mali to help the government respond to the northern crisis and, in January 2013, with French military assistance, the Malian government recaptured Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, elected in July 2013, struggled to ease tensions with Tuareg separatists by granting the Tuareg greater representation in the national government. Violence erupted again in 2014, and the French military intervened in late 2014 and 2015. Keita's administration then organized a peace agreement with some of the major ethnic separatist groups in June 2015, promising greater autonomy for the northern region in return for assistance from former rebels in increasing security throughout the north.
AQIM has increasingly been linked to attacks in Mali. In July 2016, AQIM, working alongside Ansar Dine and another Islamic radical organization known as the Macina Liberation Front, engaged in a coordinated attack on a Malian military camp near the town of Nampala. Malian troops were forced to retreat as attackers burned portions of the camp and killed at least seventeen soldiers as well as other personnel. Also in 2016, twenty-nine United Nations peacekeepers were killed in Mali, making that country one of the deadliest peacekeeping missions.
On January 18, 2017, at around 9:00 a.m. local time, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle outfitted with explosives into the Joint Operational Mechanism base in the city of Gao. Officials said that the base housed not only Malian soldiers, but hundreds of former separatist fighters who signed the May 2015 peace agreement with the government and have since been training with the Malian army to conduct security patrols in the region. Approximately seventy-seven soldiers and rebel fighters were killed in the attack, with more than one hundred reportedly wounded. The explosion coincided with a meeting between soldiers and rebel fighters to discuss security initiatives. A spokesman for AQIM released a statement claiming the attack was carried out by an allied group, al-Mourabitoun, which was also responsible for a 2015 hotel bombing in Mali's capital, Bamako. The AQIM statement named the attacker as Abdul Hadi al-Fulani and said the purpose of the attack was to punish rebels who had been cooperating with France. Officials expressed concern the attack could jeopardize the fragile 2015 peace deal.
Key Figures
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita: President of Mali.
Bibliography
Ag Anara, S. (2017, January 18). Al Qaeda says Mali attack punishment for cooperation with France. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mali-security-idUSKBN15214U
Al-Qaeda affiliate claims Mali car bomb attack in Gao. (2017, January 18). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38663693
Mali: Islamist group abuses, banditry surge. (2017, January 18). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/18/mali-islamist-group-abuses-banditry-surge
Mali suicide bomber kills at least 50 people in Gao military camp. (2017, January 18). The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/18/suicide-bomber-gao-mali-joint-operational-mechanism
Suicide attack at military camp in Mali kills scores. (2017, January 18). The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/world/africa/suicide-attack-at-military-camp-in-mali-kills-scores.html