Mali defence minister killed amid flurry of insurgent attacks | Mali
Mali’s defense minister was killed in an attack on his residence, the government said Sunday; It was a high-profile death during coordinated attacks the previous day by rebels, including al-Qaeda’s West African affiliate.
Spokesperson Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said in a statement on state television that a car loaded with explosives driven by a suicide attacker was heading towards Sadio Camara’s house in the town of Kati. Coulibaly said that a conflict broke out and Camara later died in the hospital, adding that Mali would mourn for two days.
The statement followed media reports earlier in the day that Camara was killed during the operation in Kati, about 9 miles (15 km) north of the capital Bamako, where the army’s main base is located.
Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, known as JNIM, collaborated with a Tuareg-dominated rebel group to carry out more than half a dozen simultaneous attacks across the country, both groups claim.
The government did not specify the death toll. Coulibaly expressed his condolences for “all civilian and military victims who died,” without giving figures.
Analysts and diplomats described Saturday’s insurgency operation as one of the largest coordinated attacks in the country in recent years.
The UN has called for an international response to violence and terrorism in West Africa’s Sahel region.
“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports of attacks in various parts of Mali,” a UN spokesperson shared on X. “He strongly condemns these acts of violence.”
In addition to Kati, Saturday’s strikes also hit areas near Bamako airport and further north such as Mopti, Sevare and Gao.
The fate of the strategic city of Kidal, a former stronghold of the Azawad Liberation Front (a Tuareg-dominated group partnered with JNIM), was uncertain on Sunday.
The FLA said in a statement that Kidal had fallen, and a spokesman for the group said an agreement had been reached in X allowing Russian mercenaries to leave a besieged camp outside the city where Malian armed forces were still entrenched.
However, Mali’s chief of staff, General Oumar Diarra, told the state broadcaster that the army had tactically repositioned its forces in Kidal and operations were continuing in the area.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Germany-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said the attack was a setback for Russia, which backed the military-led government after expelling the French, US and other western powers.
“For Russia, the attack was a disaster,” Laessing said. “They were unable to prevent the fall of the highly symbolic Tuareg stronghold of Kidal, and now they must abandon this northern city.”
Russian state television Vesti reported on Sunday that Russia’s African Union repelled a large-scale militant attack on the Malian government.
Russian personnel responded along with units of Mali’s presidential guard and armed forces, preventing the takeover of the presidential palace, according to Vesti.
Vesti said some members of the African Union were injured, without providing further details.
Saturday’s attacks are the latest sign that the Malian government is not providing the security it promised. In September 2024, JNIM attacked a paramilitary police training school near Bamako airport, killing approximately 70 people. It recently implemented a fuel blockade that deprived the capital’s residents and businesses of energy and supplies.
The government has recently sought closer ties with Washington, which is trying to rebuild cooperation on security and explore mining opportunities.
Mali’s foreign minister told Reuters last week that neighboring states and foreign powers support terrorist groups but declined to name the countries.
