Jihadist fighters and their separatist Tuareg allies launched a fresh round of coordinated attacks across Mali on Saturday, striking multiple towns and a major prison in an offensive that echoes the wave of assaults that shook the country's military junta roughly two months earlier. The fighting broke out around 5 a.m. local time and targeted the northern towns of Gao, Anefis and Aguelhok, the central town of SΓ©varΓ©, and the KΓ©nieroba prison complex about 70 kilometers southwest of the capital, Bamako. The attacks come after Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM fighters and Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) seized the strategic northern town of Kidal in late April and killed Mali's defense minister, Gen. Sadio Camara, in a suicide car bombing at his home. That earlier assault, one of the most significant coordinated offensives Mali has seen in years, also briefly forced military ruler Gen. Assimi GoΓ―ta into hiding and prompted a sweeping internal purge amid allegations that soldiers had colluded with the attackers. Mali's army confirmed Saturday's assaults in a statement, saying the attacks were "vigorously repelled" and that the situation was "completely under control." However, sources on the ground told AFP that fighting was still ongoing by midday. An FLA spokesman said several positions had fallen in Anefis, though the army was continuing to resist, and a resident described armed groups moving through the town while the military camp held out. In Gao, residents reported gunfire and explosions near an army base. At KΓ©nieroba, one of Mali's largest detention facilities with a capacity of more than 2,500 inmates, a prisoner described sheltering under a bed as gunfire continued before communications from the facility went silent. Anefis and Aguelhok are now the last towns where Mali's army maintains a presence in the northern Kidal region following April's losses. Mali's military, which has ruled the country since coups in 2020 and 2021, has leaned on Africa Corps β€” the Russian state-backed paramilitary force that replaced the Wagner Group β€” as it intensified operations following the earlier attacks. Junta leader GoΓ―ta has steadily deepened ties with Moscow since taking power, moving away from Mali's former colonial ally, France. Human Rights Watch reported last month that both the rebel alliance and Malian government forces, along with their Russian allies, have committed "grave abuses" against civilians since the April offensive. The unrest also revives memories of Mali's 2012 crisis, when a similar Tuareg-jihadist alliance seized control of the country's vast northern territories β€” a historical parallel that underscores the fragility of the security gains the military government has claimed since taking power.