The attacks, which took place Tuesday, were claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM.
For more than a decade Mali has faced violence from fighters linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as from separatist movements and criminal gangs.
The latest attacks come as the country's junta, which came to power following back-to-back military coups in 2020 and 2021, battles an acute spike in violence.
The militants claimed to have taken control of a military camp in the central town of Farabougou on Tuesday morning.
"At the moment, it's difficult to say what's going on," a resident of Farabougou told AFP Wednesday.
"There are many jihadists, two-by-two on motorcycles, but from where we are, we haven't seen any soldiers, even though this is the main access road to the village."
The militants also attacked a military installation in the southwestern town of Kassela later in the day Tuesday, located just dozens of kilometres from the capital Bamako.
Mali's army confirmed Tuesday's attacks, but neither it nor the JNIM gave a death toll.
"The toll booth and the military detachment were on fire last night," a resident of Kassela told AFP Wednesday. "The area is swarming with Malian and Russian soldiers this morning."
Since seizing power Mali's military government has forged ties with Russia, whose mercenaries from the paramilitary Wagner group and its successor Africa Corps have helped the Malian army fight jihadists and other internal adversaries.
The junta pivoted to Russia after turning its back on France, arguing that Mali should be free of its former colonial ruler.
Yet Mali has continued to struggle to contain the jihadist threat, while the regular army and its Russian allies are frequently accused of committing atrocities against civilians.
Mali and its junta-led neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, which have also broken ties with France, have teamed up to create their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Each country in the confederation is battling a surge in jihadist violence.
WFP aid convoy attacked in Sudan's Darfur
Port Sudan, Sudan (AFP) Aug 20, 2025 - An aid convoy operated by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) came under attack on Wednesday near the famine-hit Sudanese town of Mellit in North Darfur, the agency's spokesperson told AFP.
Three of the 16 trucks in the convoy -- which was carrying life-saving food assistance for vulnerable communities in Alsayah village -- were damaged and caught fire, said Gift Watanasathorn, adding that all members of the convoy were "safe and accounted for".
The spokesperson did not specify who was behind the assault, which took place in an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been at war with the regular army since April 2023.
Mellit, about 65 kilometres northeast of North Darfur's besieged capital of El-Fasher, has been under paramilitary control since April 2024.
El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold under army control in the western Darfur region, and has been under paramilitary siege for over a year.
In a statement, the RSF blamed the Sudanese army for carrying out the attack by air, calling it a "treacherous act of aggression".
There was no immediate comment from the army.
The two warring sides have both been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war and looting or obstructing aid.
In June, five aid workers were killed in a similar attack on a convoy organised by the World Food Programme and UNICEF headed for El-Fasher.
Paramilitary attacks in North Darfur have intensified in recent months as the RSF seeks to consolidate its hold on all of Darfur after losing Sudan's capital Khartoum in March.
The wider war -- now in its third year -- has plunged Sudan into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with more than a million people on the brink of starvation in North Darfur alone.
Famine has been declared in three displacement camps around El-Fasher, and the UN had warned it would spread to the city itself by last May, though a lack of data has prevented an official declaration.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and created a dire hunger crisis.
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