Armed men loyal to a JNIM terrorist group targeted a convoy of Moroccan trucks carrying food supplies to Bamako near the Mauritania–Mali border, underscoring mounting insecurity in the Sahel and vindicating Morocco’s warning of the risks to regional stability posed by the coalition between terrorist and separatist groups in the region.
The attack occurred along the road linking Gogui Zammal in Mauritania to Gogui in Mali, le360 reported citing a representative of Moroccan truck drivers.
The trucks were en route to Bamako in a country heavily reliant on imports from the Maghreb and West Africa.
Videos circulating online showed armed individuals firing at the vehicles and targeting fuel tanks, setting several trucks ablaze.
The attackers are believed to include fighters from Katiba Macina, a group affiliated with the al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which is active across central and northern Mali.
No Moroccan drivers were reported killed, le360 said citing Rachida Sabihi, a representative of the Union of Road Transporters of West Africa, Mauritania and Morocco in Mali, who warned that the incident highlights persistent risks along key trade corridors.
The attack comes just a week after coordinated terrorist assaults on April 24 struck Bamako, Kati and several northern cities including Gao and Kidal.
Sabihi said some drivers had failed to follow security protocols requiring convoys to travel under Malian army escort, a measure aimed at reducing exposure in high-risk zones.
Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita had condemned the attacks on Malian forces by the alliance of separatists and terrorist groups.
He denounced the dangerous convergence between separatist movements and terrorist groups destabilizing the Sahel, warning that such links pose a growing threat to regional security and trade routes.
