Mali’s defence minister killed

Mali’s Defence Minis­ter General Sadio Camara has been killed during coordinated attacks on military sites nationwide, Al Jazeera and France’s RFI radio reported on Sunday. The news came a day after his residence in the garrison town of Kati came under attack by an Al Qaeda affiliate and Tuareg rebels.

Camara was a central figure in the military government that seized power after back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. Attackers carried out a suicide car bomb assault on Camara’s residence in Kati, a heavily fortified town about 15km northwest of the capital, Bamako. Interim President Assimi Goita, who also lives in Kati, was moved to safety.

Gunmen attacked several locations across the country, including the international airport in Bamako, as well as Gao and Kidal in the north and the central city of Sevare. Residents in Kidal reported that heavy gunfire and loud explosions could still be heard on Sunday. Separatists in northern Mali, the Azawad Liberation Front, confirmed they operated alongside the Al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin in these operations. 

Govt spokesperson General Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said 16 people were wounded, including civilians and military personnel, and several militants were killed. He did not provide a total death toll. In response, the governor of Bamako’s, Abdoulaye Coulib­aly, announced a 3-day curfew from 9pm to 6am.