Mali’s military government has confirmed the death of Defence Minister Gen. Sadio Camara in a coordinated assault by jihadist fighters and Tuareg separatist rebels, a shock blow to a junta already struggling to contain a spreading insurgency.

Authorities said Camara died after his residence near Bamako was hit by a suicide car bomb and gunmen in one of several near-simultaneous attacks that struck the capital and multiple towns and army bases across the country. According to an official statement, the minister personally returned fire, “neutralising” some assailants before being critically wounded and later dying in hospital.

The offensive combined long‑running Tuareg separatist forces with militants aligned to al‑Qaeda under the Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wal‑Muslimin, or JNIM, in what analysts describe as an unprecedented level of coordination. Both groups publicly acknowledged working together, framing the operation as a joint campaign against the Bamako junta and its foreign backers.

One of the most significant gains for the insurgents came in the northern city of Kidal, a historic stronghold of the Tuareg rebellion and a strategic hub on desert smuggling and supply routes. A spokesperson for the Tuareg‑led Azawad Liberation Front said Malian troops and Russian Africa Corps personnel withdrew from Kidal under an agreement for a “peaceful exit,” declaring the city “free.”

The Malian army later confirmed it had abandoned Kidal and was regrouping in Anefis, around 100 kilometres to the south, effectively ceding a symbolically vital city it had retaken with Russian mercenary support in 2023. That earlier victory had been touted by the junta as proof that turning away from Western partners toward Moscow would restore security.

The latest attacks instead highlight the fragility of that strategy. Security specialists note that Russian forces appeared to have little advance intelligence and were unable to prevent or blunt the nationwide assault, undermining their image as reliable guarantors of regime survival.

The government has not released a full casualty toll, saying only that at least 16 people, both civilians and soldiers, were wounded and that several attackers were killed. A night‑time curfew has been imposed on the Bamako district as authorities seek to reassert control.

Regional bloc ECOWAS condemned the violence and urged West African states and security forces to coordinate against what it called a growing “scourge” of militant attacks, even as public trust in national armies and foreign partners continues to erode across the Sahel.