Gao is in the news as Mali braces for broader rebel attacks after al-Qaeda-linked gunmen hit villages in Mopti. A key Malian city near the Niger border, long troubled by jihadist violence.
Since late April, al‑Qaida‑linked JNIM and Tuareg separatists have launched coordinated attacks across Mali, seizing Kidal and other northern bases, killing Defence Minister Sadio Camara and setting up checkpoints around Bamako. The junta under Assimi Goita has reassigned defence responsibilities and opened probes into alleged military complicity while Russia's Africa Corps has been pushed back in the north.