An elaborate attack by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Mali's capital this week killed some 70 people, diplomatic and security sources said on Thursday, while the government offered no figures on casualties.

The West African country’s armed forces said the assault, on a school for military police, was carried out by terrorists.

The attack happened at the airport on Tuesday. Video Al-Qaeda posted to social media showed an armed person setting a government plane on fire.

Although the attack was attributed to Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the al-Qaeda affiliated coalition of armed groups that is Mali’s largest jihadist force, it did not substantially weaken the junta’s self-confidence and capacity to set the domestic political and diplomatic agenda.

An al-Qaeda-linked group has said it was behind an early morning attack in the Malian capital, Bamako. Armed men targeted a military training school and other areas in the city, the authorities said, blaming “a group of terrorists” for the assault.

Since the conflict in Mali erupted, violence has spread to neighbours in the Sahel region and reached the north of coastal countries. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the region, and some fighters are allied with Al Qaeda or Islamic State.

Nigeria extends its deepest condolences to the government and people of Mali, particularly to the families of those who lost their lives. The Federal Government has condemned the terrorist attack on the military airport in Bamako,