A military training camp in Mali's capital has been attacked, the army says

A military training camp in Mali’s capital was attacked early Tuesday, the army said.

Col. Marima Sagara, deputy director of the army’s communications service, said it received reports of an attack on the gendarme training school in Bamako but had no further information. An Associated Press reporter heard two explosions and saw smoke rise in the distance. The training school is located on the outskirts of the city.

It was unclear who the attackers were, how many there were and whether the situation was under control.

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.

Attacks in central and northern Mali are increasing. In July, approximately 50 Russian mercenaries in a convoy were killed in an al-Qaida ambush.

The mercenaries had been fighting mostly Tuareg rebels alongside Mali’s army when their convoy was forced to retreat into jihadi territory and ambushed south of the commune of Tinzaouaten.