Rebels attacked the barracks on the weekend Malian army and security forces in five major cities. In addition to Kidal, also in Kati, Gao, Mopti-Sévaré, and the capital Bamako. The Chief of the Malian General Staff, Oumar Diarra, announced on Sunday that 200 terrorists had been killed. The government spokesman added that both soldiers and civilians were killed in the attacks.
Their number has not been published, but the Minister of Defense Sadio Camara is among those killed. He was a key figure ensuring ties between Russian mercenaries and the Malian army. The BBC reported that Camara was killed in a suicide attack when a truck full of explosives drove into his home in the garrison town of Kati. controlled by the bomber. Camara’s second wife and two of his grandchildren also perished in the assassination, AFP added.
Photo: Maxim Shipenkov, Reuters
Minister of Defense Mali Sadio Camara during his visit to Russia
Provisional President Assimi Goita also lived in Kati, which had been under attack since Saturday evening. He is alive because he moved to safety after the start of the attack.
Fighting in some areas continued on Monday. Several checkpoints were built in the capital, but classes in schools continued normally.
The town of Kidal was taken over by the Tuaregs, jihadists are attacking other places. In Tessito, south of Gao, the soldiers allegedly surrendered to the fighters of Jama Nusra al-Islam al-Muslimin (JNIM). The jihadists let them go when they handed over their weapons.
Russian mercenaries, who were mostly from Wagner’s group, continue to fight in other Malian cities, according to the BBC. The Russian Corps stated that the situation in the country remains complex.
Unstable Mali is a hotbed for rebels
For more than a decade, Mali has been fighting separatists who want to declare an independent state of Azawad in the desert north, and jihadists, from two main groups. One is JNIM connected to al-Qaeda, the other is the Islamic State’s Sahel Province (ISPP) operating mainly near the city of Gao.
Due to the progress of separatists and jihadists after the 2012 military coup, France launched the Serval military operation in January 2013. The advance of the rebels on Bamako not only stopped, but they managed to drive them back to the north.
After another military coup in 2020, during which President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown, security cooperation with France and other Western countries ended. The coup plotters turned to help from Russia.
