{"id":322071,"date":"2026-01-14T11:40:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T03:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322071"},"modified":"2026-01-14T11:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T03:40:54","slug":"mali-gunmen-attack-three-industrial-sites-in-western-kayes-region-kidnap-civilians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=322071","title":{"rendered":"Mali: Gunmen attack three industrial sites in western Kayes region, kidnap civilians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/152\/15250182.jpg\" width=\"600\" alt=\"Malian security forces move toward Camp Kangaba, a tourist resort near Bamako, Mali, June 19, 2017\"><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"article-123\">BAMAKO, Jan 14 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) &#8212; Gunmen attacked three industrial sites and kidnapped civilians in western Mali over the weekend, local sources said, as jihadists seek to disrupt the economy.<br><br>Fighters from the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, have imposed a fuel blockade and targeted industrial and mining sites in recent months in this landlocked West African country.<br><br>Sunday\u2019s attack on three plants in the Kayes region caused \u201cenormous\u201d damage, a Malian security source said. \u201cAfter the economic blockade, the terrorists want to shut down the factories,\u201d the source said, adding that the government had sent reinforcements to the area.<br><br>Ibrahima Diawara, CEO of a plant that produces calcium carbonate, lime and plaster near the town of Bafoulabe, said his site had suffered \u201cconsiderable damage_.\u201d \u201cTwo other plants in the same area were also attacked and set on fire,\u201d he said.<br><br>\u201cNearly 160 terrorists riding motorbikes took part in the attacks,\u201d reported Wamaps, a group of West African journalists specializing in security news in the Sahel, on X. According to Wamaps, three people were kidnapped in the attacks, while an elected official from the Kayes region put the number at four civilians.<br><br>The Kayes official added that \u201cthe jihadists had already attacked these sites a few months ago.\u201d By Monday afternoon, no group had claimed responsibility for the weekend attacks or abductions.<br><br>In June, JNIM had threatened to attack industries and foreign companies doing business with the Malian state without \u201cits authorization.\u201d Since then, numerous industrial sites have been attacked and several civilians, mostly foreigners, have been kidnapped, mainly in the west of the country.<br><br>These kidnappings have enabled the jihadists to finance their activities through ransom payments.<br><br>JNIM has also imposed a fuel blockade since September.<br><br>At the height of the crisis, in October and November, Bamako experienced major fuel shortages, paralyzing the capital\u2019s economy and leading to power cuts. &#8212; NNN-AFRICANEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BAMAKO, Jan 14 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) &#8212; Gunmen attacked three industrial sites and kidnapped civilians in western Mali over the weekend, local sources said, as jihadists seek to disrupt the economy. Fighters from the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, have imposed a fuel blockade and targeted industrial and mining sites in recent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":322073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322071"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322075,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322071\/revisions\/322075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/322073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}