On August 30, 2023, Al-Zallaqa, the media arm of Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the African Sahel, Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam Wal-Muslimeen (the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims – GSIM), reported a same-day, “precise” attack in which GSIM fighters, fired mortars against the Timbuktu military airport, in Mali. The statement added that it had not yet received reports about “enemy” casualties.[1]

In a second statement, Al-Zallaqa claimed the airport had become “a shelter” for the Russian Wagner Group and “the soldiers of the collaborator [Malian interim president Assimi] Goïta.”[2]

GSIM has recently released several statements condemning and accusing Wagner Group of massacring Muslim civilians in Mali, aided by the Malian government and army[3]—against whom GSIM has launched attacks.[4]

In 2018, GSIM claimed a major attack at the Timbuktu airport targeting French and international forces.[5]

[1] Telegram, August 30, 2023.

[2] Telegram, August 30, 2023.

[3] See MEMRI JTTM Reports: Al-Qaeda Affiliate GSIM Accuses Russian Wagner Group Of ‘Massacring’ Civilians In Mali’s Koulikoro Region As Part Of Malian Government Effort To ‘Eliminate Peoples Of The Region’, August 18, 2023; Al-Qaeda Affiliate GSIM Releases Statement Condemning Russian Wagner Group Massacres Of Civilians In Mali, Calling On Muslims To Wage Jihad Against Malian Government And Wagner, August 22, 2023.

[4] See MEMRI JTTM Reports: Al-Qaeda Affiliate GSIM Claims Imposing Siege On Malian Army, Russian Wagner Forces; Telegram Channel Sympathetic To Islamic State (ISIS) Accuses GSIM Of Targeting Civilians, Claims ISIS Control Of Mali-Niger Border Will Complicate Malian Intervention In Niger Conflict, August 10, 2023; Al-Qaeda Affiliate GSIM Claims Attacks In Mali And Burkina Faso Targeting Army Forces, Wagner Group, August 24, 2023.

[5] See MEMRI JTTM Report: Al-Qaeda-Affiliated GSIM Claims Responsibility For Attack On French, International Forces At Timbuktu Airport, Mali, April 20, 2018.