Overview
- Armed fighters launched synchronized assaults Saturday on Bamako, Kati, Gao, Kidal and Sevare, with blasts and heavy gunfire near the capital’s airport.
- The government later confirmed Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Camara died after attackers struck his Kati residence, and it announced a three‑night curfew in the Bamako district.
- JNIM, an al‑Qaeda affiliate, and the Tuareg separatist Azawad Liberation Front said they coordinated the operation, which analysts described as the biggest in years.
- Fighting and bursts of gunfire continued in Kati on Sunday, even as officials reported 16 people wounded and said security forces had reasserted control in affected areas.
- The FLA said it retook Kidal and let Russian Africa Corps personnel leave a besieged camp, a claim not independently verified, as the UN and ECOWAS called for a coordinated regional response.