{"id":128306,"date":"2026-07-06T09:12:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T09:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tv.guardian.ng\/?p=128306"},"modified":"2026-07-06T09:12:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T09:12:57","slug":"could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/","title":{"rendered":"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"k240oRDKcC4EnhHqeDs\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p>\nMali&#8217;s military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government&#8217;s ability to contain the insurgency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mali&#8217;s military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government&#8217;s ability to contain the insurgency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1535],"tags":[2514,6295],"class_list":["post-128306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","tag-islamist-fighters","tag-timbuktu"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu? - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mali&#039;s military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government&#039;s ability to contain the insurgency.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu? - GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mali&#039;s military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government&#039;s ability to contain the insurgency.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-06T09:12:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/GUNS.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"492\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\"},\"headline\":\"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T09:12:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":64,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/GUNS.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Islamist fighters\",\"Timbuktu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Africa\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/\",\"name\":\"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu? - GuardianTV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/GUNS.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T09:12:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"Mali's military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government's ability to contain the insurgency.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/GUNS.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/GUNS.jpg\",\"width\":760,\"height\":492,\"caption\":\"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GuardianTV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\",\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/author\\\/abiodun\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu? - GuardianTV","description":"Mali's military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government's ability to contain the insurgency.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu? - GuardianTV","og_description":"Mali's military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government's ability to contain the insurgency.","og_url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/","og_site_name":"GuardianTV","article_published_time":"2026-07-06T09:12:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":492,"url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/GUNS.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abiodun Ogundairo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abiodun Ogundairo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/"},"author":{"name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1"},"headline":"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu?","datePublished":"2026-07-06T09:12:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/"},"wordCount":64,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/GUNS.jpg","keywords":["Islamist fighters","Timbuktu"],"articleSection":["Africa"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/","name":"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu? - GuardianTV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/GUNS.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-06T09:12:57+00:00","description":"Mali's military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government's ability to contain the insurgency.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/GUNS.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/GUNS.jpg","width":760,"height":492,"caption":"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/could-islamist-fighters-take-timbuktu\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Could islamist fighters take Timbuktu?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","name":"GuardianTV","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization","name":"GuardianTV","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","width":600,"height":96,"caption":"GuardianTV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1","name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/author\/abiodun\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128308,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128306\/revisions\/128308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}