An elaborate attack by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Mali's capital this week killed some 70 people, diplomatic and security sources said on Thursday, while the government offered no figures on casualties.

The West African country’s armed forces said the assault, on a school for military police, was carried out by terrorists.

Although the attack was attributed to Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the al-Qaeda affiliated coalition of armed groups that is Mali’s largest jihadist force, it did not substantially weaken the junta’s self-confidence and capacity to set the domestic political and diplomatic agenda.

Since the conflict in Mali erupted, violence has spread to neighbours in the Sahel region and reached the north of coastal countries. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the region, and some fighters are allied with Al Qaeda or Islamic State.

An al-Qaeda-linked group has said it was behind an early morning attack in the Malian capital, Bamako. Armed men targeted a military training school and other areas in the city, the authorities said, blaming “a group of terrorists” for the assault.

Attacks Tuesday in Bamako were the first of their kind in years and dealt a forceful blow to the ruling junta, experts said

Over 70 people were killed and 200 were injured in Tuesday’s jihadist attack on a gendarmerie school and military airport in Bamako, the capital of Mali, according to AFP, citing military sources. The junta ruling the country since 2021,