Intelligence officers have confirmed the arrest of two persons in the Karaga District of the Northern Region in connection with a terrorist attack in Central Mali.
Ibrahim Ali and Hafsa Abdulai were picked up at Nangun, a Fulani community near the district capital, where they both lived with the suicide bomber until he left five years ago to join Islamist militants in the Sahel.
The two are highly believed to be the parents of a suicide bomber, Abu Dujana, who detonated a car bomb near a French military base in the Kaigourou neighbourhood of Gossi.
The attack, which occured in June this year, injured 12 people, including eight French soldiers, and led to the death of the attacker.
National Security sources confirm the arrest follows months of intelligence gathering as the two had been monitored to be in close and regular contact with a wanted terrorist in neighboring Burkina Faso.
The sources say, the suspects, however, have so far been reluctant to collaborate with an investigation into dozens of intercepted mobile phone conversations with the fugitive terrorist.
Suspected terrorist activities are not new in the Karaga district, especially in the Nangun community.
In 2019, the National Security carried out a dawn raid arresting over 20 suspects following intelligence of a mass arrival of suspicious herdsmen from Burkina Faso being secretly accommodated in the community.
The next week, two masked men attacked the village and killed two herdsmen who were suspected to have collaborated with the security forces in the operation.
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