IS-Sahel Assault on Tessit Repelled by FAMa — ~10 Motorcycles Seized, Militants Killed and Captured

Militants of the Islamic State – Wilayat Sahel group (IS-Sahel/ISGS, designated IG-C in Russian sources) launched an assault on the town of Tessit in Mali's Gao Region on April 23, 2026. Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) successfully repelled the attack. In the aftermath of the engagement, FAMa seized approximately ten motorcycles and an unspecified quantity of weapons and equipment. A number of IS-Sahel fighters were killed and others captured during the battle; exact casualty figures were not disclosed. FAMa continued operations in the area following the engagement. Tessit (Ansongo Department, Gao Region) has been a recurrent IS-Sahel attack site — most notably the August 7–8, 2022 assault in which IS-Sahel killed 42 Malian soldiers and civilians, making it one of the deadliest single attacks of the conflict. The town sits near the Mali-Niger border in the Liptako-Gourma tri-border zone and straddles IS-Sahel's eastern operational corridor connecting the Ménaka theater to Niger's Tillabéri Region. The April 23 attack comes amid the April 2–17 ISGS-JNIM inter-jihadist clashes in the Tillabéri corridor, which killed 50+ fighters on both sides — suggesting IS-Sahel may have launched the Tessit operation while simultaneously shifting resources toward its JNIM confrontation front. The FAMa repulsion and seizure of equipment represents a tactical success, but ongoing operations suggest the threat in the area has not been neutralized.