One of the main leaders of the junta in power since 2020 in Mali, also the minister of defense, has died in attacks carried out the day before against Malian army positions by jihadist and Tuareg rebel groups.
Sadio Camara, the minister of defense and one of the main leaders of the junta in power in Mali since 2020, was killed in an attack on Saturday by the Sahelian branch of Al-Qaeda against his residence, AFP learned on Sunday from his family, government, and military sources.
“In the attack on Kati, the minister (Sadio) Camara was killed along with his second wife (…),” a family member told AFP.
“We have lost a very dear being, the minister of defense. He fell in the line of duty,” said a government source to AFP, confirmed by other military sources.
The European Union “strongly condemns terrorist attacks” and expresses solidarity with the Malian people, in a statement released Sunday by its foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. “We reaffirm our determination in the fight against terrorism, as well as our commitment to peace, security, and stability in Mali and across the Sahel,” the EU added.
A series of coordinated attacks
The jihadists of the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, claimed a series of coordinated attacks on Saturday, April 25, with the Tuareg rebellion against strategic positions of the junta in power in Mali, on the outskirts of Bamako and in several important cities in the Sahelian country.
Mali has been plagued by conflicts and jihadist violence for over a decade, but since the junta took power in 2020, these attacks by jihadists and the Tuareg rebellion of the Front for the Liberation of Azawad (FLA) are unprecedented.
The fighting between the army and the assailants, which began on Saturday at dawn, continued intensively in the afternoon on the outskirts of Bamako and in several cities, especially in Kidal, a stronghold of armed independentist groups in the north.
In a statement released on Saturday evening, the JNIM, which has been fighting for years against the military of the junta in power in Bamako, proclaimed a “victory,” attributing it to “hard work,” coordination with its “partners,” and “thanks to the active participation of our brothers from the Front for the Liberation of Azawad.”
The group claims responsibility for the attacks targeting on Saturday “the residence of Malian president Assimi Goita, the residence of Malian defense minister Sadio Camara, the Bamako international airport,” and “military sites in the neighboring town of Kati.”
