DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Mali ‘s defence minister was killed in a sweeping attack by jihadis and rebels who seized several towns and military bases, authorities said Sunday, the latest violence in the junta-run country that has long battled militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group as well as a separatist rebellion in the north.
The Malian government confirmed the death of the defense chief, Gen. Sadio Camara, in a post on the defense ministry’s Facebook page, and expressed its condolences to his family. State-run television also broadcast the announcement of his death by spokesman Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly.
Mali was struck on Saturday by one of the biggest coordinated attacks on its army in the capital, Bamako, and several other cities and towns in an assault that also challenged Mali’s security partner, Russia, which has forces on the ground in the West African country.
The government said Sunday the attacks appear to be over, but several questions remain, including who was in control of a key northern city that the separatists claim to have taken.
The government has not provided a death toll from Saturday and previously said only that at least 16 people were wounded in what it denounced as terror attacks.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali, while al-Qaida and IS-aligned militants have been fighting the government for over a decade.
According to the government statement, Camara’s residence was targeted by a suicide car bomber and other attackers on Saturday.
“He engaged in an exchange of fire with the assailants, some of whom he managed to neutralize,” it said. “During intense clashes, he was wounded and then transported to the hospital, where he unfortunately succumbed to his injuries.”
A spokesperson for the separatist Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, said the Russian Africa Corps troops and the Malian military withdrew from the city of Kidal following the attack on Saturday, after an agreement was reached for their peaceful exit.
“Kidal is declared free,” said FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan.
In a statement on state TV late Sunday night, Gen. Oumar Diarra, head of the armed forces, confirmed that the Malian army had left the city and that its forces were repositioning in Anefis, a city about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Kidal.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.
Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.
