IMPORTANT [WITH THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS]: Mali Junta in Crisis as Defence Minister Killed and Northern City Falls to Rebels
Mali's military rulers were plunged into their gravest security crisis in years on Sunday after a weekend of coordinated nationwide attacks by jihadist fighters and Tuareg separatists killed the country's defence minister and reportedly handed a strategic northern city to rebels.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara, a senior member of the ruling junta and seen by many as a potential future leader, was killed Saturday by a car bomb planted outside his home in Kati, a military stronghold roughly 15 kilometres north of the capital Bamako. His second wife and two of his grandchildren also died in the blast, according to relatives. The attack is believed to have been carried out by the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
The offensive, which began at dawn Saturday, was synchronised between JNIM and the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front (FLA). Targets included the Kati base, Bamako's international airport, and towns across central and northern Mali. Analysts called it the most serious challenge to Mali's rulers since the 2012 offensive that prompted French military intervention.
"This looks like the biggest coordinated attack for years," said Ulf Laessing of Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation. "Remarkably, there has been coordination between jihadists and Tuareg rebels, which have nothing in common, but they have a joint enemy." The two groups cooperated in 2012 before falling out.
By Sunday, FLA fighters claimed to have taken "total" control of Kidal, the symbolic Tuareg capital recaptured by Malian forces with Russian Wagner support in November 2023. A rebel spokesman said an agreement had been struck to allow Russian Africa Corps personnel to withdraw from a besieged camp outside the city. "We saw a military convoy leave," one Kidal resident told AFP. "Fighters from armed movements have now taken over the streets." Mali's armed forces disputed the claim, saying operations to repel insurgents were continuing.
Junta leader General Assimi Goita, who seized power in a 2020 coup and severed ties with former colonial ruler France in favour of closer alignment with Moscow, has not been seen publicly since the attacks began. A Malian security source told AFP he was in a "safe place."
Russia's Africa Corps, which replaced the Wagner group as Bamako's principal security partner, played a central role in repelling the assault. Russian state broadcaster Vesti reported that Africa Corps personnel, alongside Mali's Presidential Guard, prevented the seizure of the presidential palace, though some Russian troops were wounded. Laessing described the weekend as "a disaster" for Moscow: "They were unable to prevent the fall of the highly symbolic Tuareg stronghold of Kidal."
Camara's death is a particular blow. "As a key figure within the junta and a central architect of the Mali–Russia rapprochement, his removal would underscore JNIM's capacity to strike at the core of state power," said Djenabou Cisse of the Foundation for Strategic Research.
By Sunday, calm had returned to parts of Kati, though fighting continued in Kidal, Gao and Sevare. Bamako's airport reopened after heavy clashes in the Senou district. The government said 16 civilians and soldiers were wounded and insisted the situation was "totally under control." Residents told a different story. "The jihadists left the area, but we are living in fear," one Kati resident said.
The opposition Coalition of Forces for the Republic said Mali was "in danger," arguing nobody could credibly claim the country was pacified. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the violence and called for "coordinated international support" to confront extremism in the Sahel. The European Union and ECOWAS — which Mali quit in 2025 — also denounced the attacks.
The weekend assault follows a JNIM fuel blockade that has crippled Bamako in recent months, and a September 2024 attack on a gendarmerie school that killed roughly 70 people — fresh evidence that the junta's central promise of restoring security remains unmet.