Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks against military posts across Mali on Tuesday.

The group said in a statement on social media that it had taken "complete control over three barracks and dozens of military positions in coordinated and high-quality attacks".

Mali's armed forces earlier on Tuesday reported a series of attacks on multiple military positions in seven towns in the central and western regions of the West African country.

They did not provide details about the attacks or say who was responsible, and a spokesperson for Mali's armed forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The incidents bore the hallmarks of other recent operations by the militants who have conducted similar assaults on military positions in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Mali, governed by a military junta since 2020, has for more than a decade fought insurgent groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda, while contending with a longer history of Tuareg-led rebellions in the north.

The attacks on Tuesday targeted Diboli in western Mali near the border with Senegal, and the nearby towns of Kayes and Sandere. There were also attacks in Nioro du Sahel and Gogoui, northwest of the capital Bamako near the border with Mauritania, and in Molodo and Niono in central Mali, the army's statement said.