Mali plunged into crisis as co-ordinated terror attacks kill defence minister

Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) ride on the back of pickup trucks in Kidal, on April 26, 2026. Photo / Abdollah Ag Mohamed, AFP

Mali has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis after an alliance of Tuareg rebels and a jihadist group carried out synchronised attacks against the West African country’s military leadership.

The two groups are the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition and the al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM). The FLA is made up mainly of Tuareg groups who want independence for Azawad, a territory in northern Mali.

Defence Minister General Sadio Camara, a key figure in the military regime, was killed in an attack, his family and government sources said on Sunday.

Mali’s army says it has been engaged in fierce fighting against the attackers since Saturday morning.

Here is what we know:

Tuareg rebels in Kidal

FLA fighters said on Sunday they had full control of Kidal, a key town in the north.

Fighting appears to have stopped for the moment in Gao, another northern town, with rebels positioned on the outskirts.

The situation remains “confusing” in Sevare, central Mali, where gunfire was still ringing out in some areas, said one local official.

On Sunday afternoon, calm returned to Kati, a junta stronghold just 15km from the capital Bamako, after gunfire in the morning, one resident told AFP.

Defence minister killed

Camara, 47, was killed on Saturday when an explosive-laden car detonated outside his home, an attack claimed by the jihadist JNIM group.

His family and an official said Camara, his second wife and two of his grandchildren had died after the car bomb attack on his home in the junta stronghold of Kati, outside Bamako.

A government statement said he had been mortally wounded while fighting his attackers “some of whom he succeeded in neutralising” and would receive a “national funeral”.

Tuaregs cut deal with Russians

FLA fighters said they had reached an agreement to allow Russian Afrika Korps soldiers to withdraw from a camp where they had been entrenched since Saturday.

“The Russian fighters in Kidal have decided to leave their position,” a diplomatic source told AFP. “They are coordinating their departure with the FLA rebels.”

A resident of Kidal told AFP he had seen a military convoy leave the town.

The junta leaders

General Assimi Goita, the head of the junta, has neither been seen nor heard from since the attacks began.

A Malian security source told AFP he had been “evacuated from Kati on Saturday and is in a safe location” at a “special forces camp” near Bamako.

Security sources said head of intelligence General Modibo Kone and military Chief of Staff General Oumar Diarra were wounded during Saturday’s attacks in Kati.

‘Hunt’

Mali’s army said in on Sunday: “The hunt for armed terrorist groups continues in Kidal, Kati, and other locations across the country.”

The military has imposed curfews, stepped up patrols and reinforced checkpoints across the country.

On Saturday evening, Mali’s military rulers said the attacks had resulted in 16 civilian and military injuries and “limited material damage”.

-Agence France-Presse