Two armed men attacked Mali’s interim President Assimi Goita yesterday during prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid-al-Adha in a mosque in the capital Bamako.
Religious Affairs Minister Mamadou Kone confirmed that a man had “tried to kill the President with a knife” but was apprehended.
The director of the mosque, Latus Toure, corroborated the story, adding that the assailants wounded someone else instead of the President.
An official at the presidency confirmed that Goita was “safe and sound”.
The foiled assasination attempt on Goita came on the heels of months of political upheaval in Mali, which has also been battling a jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and created more displaced persons.
Goita was named transitional President last month, following the country’s second coup in less than a year.
He has, however, pledged to return the country to civilian rule.
