The interim president of Mali Assimi Goïta escaped an attack outside the Great Mosque of Bamako, Tuesday during the Muslim rite of Eid al-Adha, the feast of the Sacrifice.
Two armed men, including a knife-wiedling one attacked during prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
Goita has since been ferried away from the scene, it was unclear whether he had been wounded.
Religious Affairs Minister Mamadou Kone said a man had “tried to kill the president with a knife” but was apprehended.
Director of the Great Mosque, Latus Toure said an attacker had lunged for the president but wounded someone else.
Mali has been battling to contain an insurgency that first emerged in the north of the country in 2012, and has since spread to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Colonel Goita led a coup last August, deposing elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita after weeks of mass protests over corruption and the long-running violent insurgency.
In May, he ousted a transitional government that had been entrusted with the task of leading the country back to civilian rule in February 2022.
He has pledged to return the country to to civilian rule.
