Mali military escorts vehicles after militants attack fuel trucks

Mali’s army on Wednesday escorted fuel and civilian convoys after al-Qaida-linked militants attacked dozens of fuel trucks on a vital trade route, state media said.

Malian state TV reported that troops escorted 40 buses carrying people in Torodo in the country’s southwest region.

It said more than 30 tankers, lorries and civilian vehicles from Senegal were also escorted this week.

Militants affiliated with al-Qaida have burned and destroyed some 100 trucks transporting fuel to Bamako in recent days, according to a local trade union.

The Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, announced a ban on fuel imports from neighboring countries two weeks ago, in what analysts say poses huge risks for the fragile local economy and is a significant setback for Mali’s military junta.

The attacks mark a shift of tension to another part of the country, the south, which had been less affected in the past, according to analyst Ulf Laessing.

“The army needs now to allocate more resources to the south. That might also be the goal of the Jihadists,” said Laessing, who's the Head of Sahel Program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

“It creates a psychological moment. People never know when they might strike," he added.