Mali’s defence minister, Sadio Camara, died after insurgents attacked his residence in Kati, the government said on Sunday. A suicide attacker drove an explosives-laden vehicle into Camara’s home about 15km north of Bamako, then gunmen engaged security forces, a statement from government spokesperson Issa Ousmane Coulibaly broadcast on state television said. Camara was wounded in the fighting and later died in hospital. The government declared two days of national mourning.
Local reports initially said Camara was killed during the operation at Kati, which hosts the army’s main base. The regional al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) claimed responsibility, saying they coordinated more than half a dozen near-simultaneous attacks across the country. Strikes and clashes were reported in Kati, near Bamako’s airport and farther north in towns including Mopti, Sevare and Gao. The government has not provided an overall death toll; Coulibaly offered condolences for ‘all civilian and military victims who died’ without giving numbers.
Analysts and diplomats described Saturday’s operation as one of the largest coordinated insurgent offensives in Mali in recent years. The United Nations called for an international response to the surge in violence, with a UN spokesperson saying the secretary-general was deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali.
The situation in the strategic northern city of Kidal remained uncertain. The FLA said it had captured Kidal and that a deal allowed Russian mercenaries to leave a besieged camp outside the city, though Malian forces said they remained entrenched there. Army chief of staff General Oumar Diarra told state television that troops had been tactically repositioned in Kidal and operations were ongoing.
Observers said the assaults represented a setback for Russia, which has supported Mali’s junta since Western forces withdrew. Ulf Laessing of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation said Russia had failed to protect the symbolic Tuareg center and might have to withdraw. Russian state media reported that Russia’s Africa Corps, with Malian forces, helped repel an attempt to seize the presidential palace, with some Africa Corps personnel wounded.
The attacks underline persistent security challenges in Mali, after deadly incidents in 2024 including a JNIM strike on a paramilitary training school and a fuel blockade that disrupted Bamako. Mali has been seeking closer ties with Washington even as its foreign minister accused unnamed neighbouring states and foreign powers of supporting terrorist groups.