Battle of Talataye (2022)
The Battle of Talataye took place between 6 and 7 September 2022 during the Menaka offensives of the Mali War. During the battle, militants from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara stormed Talataye, Mali, looting and burning the town. The following day, ISGS abandoned Talataye. Background In March 2022, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) militants launched an offensive in the Ménaka Region in eastern Mali, which was then predominantly defended by government-aligned Tuareg rebels under Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA). The jihadists quickly took control of Andéramboukane and other villages in the region. These captures were accompanied by massacres, with 300 to 700 Tuareg civilians being killed between March and August 2022. The uptick in violence caused 50,000 civilians to flee to the regional capital of Ménaka. Talataye had 13,000 inhabitants in 2009, although many had fled due to violence from the war in the years after. Throughout March 2022, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) affiliated with al-Qaeda took up positions south and west of Talataye in preparation for fighting inside the town. Prior to the battle, JNIM and the MSA signed an agreement of mutual defense against ISGS if they attacked the