Overview
- JNIM and the Tuareg FLA launched coordinated attacks across Mali on Saturday, striking military bases, Bamako’s airport, and senior leadership sites.
- Defense Minister Sadio Camara was killed when a car bomb destroyed his home in the capital.
- Russia confirmed casualties among its Africa Corps units, and officials in Kidal said the Russian contingent later withdrew under a deal that let them leave with vehicles.
- JNIM said it plans to seal all routes into and out of Bamako as reprisal against civilians who aided the army, echoing its 2025 fuel embargo that caused severe gasoline shortages.
- France urged its citizens to leave Mali as fighting and competing claims of control continued in the north, including around Kidal.