BAMAKO — Malian authorities are investigating soldiers suspected of involvement in a wave of simultaneous attacks on army bases across the country last week. A prosecutor at a military tribunal near Bamako said on Friday that five suspects had been identified, including three active-duty soldiers, one retired person, 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 said.

The coordinated assault on the morning of April 25 targeted the military government that took power after coups in 2020 and 2021. The defence minister was killed during the assault. Assimi Goita said in a televised address on Tuesday that the situation was under control and that he would neutralise the armed groups behind the attacks.

The violence has set off fighting across Mali's desert north, and armed groups have shown an increasing willingness to strike neighbouring countries. Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin has called on Malians to rise up against the government and transition to Islamic law, and has pledged to besiege Bamako. Security sources said the group set up checkpoints around Bamako, a city of four million.

"The big test will be whether the government can hold on to larger cities in the north, such as Timbuktu and Gao," said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. "If they also fall, then anything might happen," he said.