An Al-Qaeda-linked group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack in Bamako against highly sensitive targets including a military police training center and the military airport.

The operation was the first of its kind in years, with the Malian capital normally spared the sort of attacks that occur almost daily in some parts of the West African country.

Among the unknowns is the number of human casualties, with authorities yet to release precise details of the toll.

The general staff admitted late Tuesday that "some human lives were lost", notably personnel at the military police center.

It confirmed that the targets were a gendarmes' training center and the city's airport, a complex housing a military airport adjoining the civilian one.

The attack was repelled, the assailants "neutralized" and the situation "rapidly brought under control", it added.

The extent of the material damage following the attacks also remains uncertain.

Gunfire continued for much of the day Tuesday near the airport, officials and an AFP correspondent reported.

Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) -- the jihadist group that claimed the attack -- broadcast images showing fighters strolling around and firing randomly into the windows of the presidential hangar in the airport complex.

One video showed a fighter setting fire to part of an aircraft.

Authorities have given no indication whether the plane belonging to junta chief Colonel Assimi Goita was targeted.

JNIM claimed that a few dozen of its fighters had killed and wounded "hundreds" from the opposing ranks, including members of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.

The jihadist group said in a statement on its communication channels that it had destroyed six military aircraft, including a drone, and damaged four others.

AFP has been unable to verify the claims made by both sides, given the restricted flow of information under the junta.

Mali, ruled by the military after back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, has since 2012 been ravaged by different factions affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Sends message to junta
 

Shops began to reopen Wednesday in the area surrounding the military police barracks, an AFP correspondent said.

The main road passing in front of the camp remained closed to traffic under the watch of armed police.

From the outside, no damage was visible inside the camp.

The transport ministry said on Tuesday afternoon that flights had resumed at Bamako's international airport.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) expressed "strong condemnation" of the attacks targeting Bamako, whose junta says it is quitting the regional body.

Mali's military leaders broke off ties with the regional group in January at the same time as its junta-led neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger.

The three countries accuse ECOWAS of having failed to support them in the battle against jihadist insurgents and of being subservient to former colonial power France.

Tuesday's attack came a day after the trio marked a year since the creation of their own breakaway grouping, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Mali's junta chief on Sunday said that the alliance had "considerably weakened the armed terrorist groups".

In hitting sensitive military targets in the capital, JNIM struck a forceful blow to the ruling junta, underscoring its two-pronged strategy of territorial expansion and harassment, experts said.

"It also signals the inability of Mali's intelligence and security apparatus -- along with those of its Russian and regional allies -- to detect and intercept the plot beforehand," Lucas Webber, from Tech Against Terrorism, told AFP.

The JNIM additionally sent a message to the Malian government and army by seeking to avoid civilian victims, the analyst added.