Overview
- Malian military prosecutors, who read a statement on state TV late Friday, said they had made initial arrests and identified five soldiers suspected of helping plan the April 25 attacks.
- The JNIM–Tuareg FLA alliance, which killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara in a car bombing on Saturday, forced government and Russian units out of Kidal and on Friday took the Tessalit base near Algeria.
- Security sources reported on Friday that JNIM set up checkpoints on several highways into Bamako after declaring a blockade, raising the risk of fuel and food shortages for the city of four million.
- The Kremlin said Russian Africa Corps personnel will remain to support the junta, while France earlier urged its citizens to leave Mali as soon as possible.
- Kidal and Tessalit are strategic northern hubs that control desert routes and an airstrip, and their loss threatens wider Sahel instability and new displacement toward coastal neighbors.