An al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist faction declared that it has taken control of a military facility in the northern region of Mali, causing significant casualties within the military.

On Friday, however, the army of Mali claimed to have repelled raids on positions near Timbuktu.

Using a suicide-bomb vehicle, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) captured the Niafunke camp on Friday, the group announced on the Al-Zallaqa Foundation media platform.

SITE, an American nonprofit that tracks extremist organisations, confirmed that claim on Saturday.

According to JNIM, the combat took the lives of tens of soldiers, wounded two, and captured one.

It published images of five armoured vehicles with ammunition and weaponry that it claimed to have captured.

It stated that two soldiers had been taken prisoner and that scores of soldiers had been killed or injured. It was not able to confirm the information right away.

JNIM frequently leaves the camps it captures after a short while.

The gang also said that they had fired mortars against an army barracks a few miles away in Goundam.

Social media was used by the Mali military to declare that the attacks had been “energetically repelled.”

“After artillery fire on the two camps, the assailants tried in vain to occupy them and were routed,” claimed the statement.

Because access to the location is hazardous and restricted, it is difficult to verify statements made by either party.

Since 2012, bandits and self-declared self-defense forces have devastated Mali, along with organisations connected to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Following the recent evacuation of United Nations forces at the behest of the ruling junta, which sparked conflict between the military and Islamist and separatist parties for control of the region, combat has risen, especially in the north.