Battle of Hamakouladji

The Battle of Hamakouladji was battle fought between a unit of the Malian army and MOJWA jihadists that took place in the Malian village of Hamakouladji, located 40 km (25 miles) north of Gao, in the municipality of Tilemsi. According to Colonel Kassim Goita, a senior commander in the Malian army, clashes began at around 1:30 p.m and continued for a ten minute period, when a group of 8 Malian soldiers pursued a suspicious man on a motorcycle, after he failed to stop at an army checkpoint just on the outskirts of town, for a routine identity check. The motorcyclist eventually gave way. While the motorcyclist was being searched and interrogated by soldiers, a 4X4 vehicle laden with explosives surged forward, and the passengers began spraying the troops with machine gunfire. The car temporarily served as a distraction allowing the motorcyclist to detonate the explosive bomb he was wearing, mortally injuring a soldier and severely wounding two others. By 1:40 p.m, clashes commenced and the area was secured by incoming reinforcements. The bodies of two soldiers, were found at the scene of the clash, and publicyy announced the same day. All the MUJAO participants of the attack, which numbered at around five, were reported killed.

According to authorities, only two soldiers died on the spot and eight others were taken away, four whom were slightly wounded. In total at least three people participated in the attack, the suspect on the motorcycle and the two occupants of the vehicle. The two attackers in the vehicle were supposedly killed before they could detonate the car bomb.