Mali’s Defence Minister Sadio Camara has been killed in a car bomb attack outside his residence in Kati, a key military town on the outskirts of the capital Bamako, in one of the most audacious strikes against the country’s ruling junta in recent memory.

The explosion, which occurred on Sunday, April 26, also claimed the lives of at least three of Camara’s family members. Military sources and relatives confirmed the blast was carried out by militants believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda.

The assassination formed part of a sweeping wave of coordinated attacks launched on Saturday targeting multiple towns across Mali, with Kati — home to several top officials of the military-led government — among the primary targets.

Authorities said the assaults were carried out jointly by jihadist fighters and separatist forces, including the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), with clashes continuing into a second consecutive day.

The killing of Camara marks a severe blow to Mali’s junta and lays bare the deepening security crisis gripping the Sahel region. Analysts described the coordinated nature of the strikes as evidence of the growing operational sophistication of militant networks operating in the area.

Mali has been engulfed in a complex insurgency since 2012, when Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants overran large swathes of the country’s north in the aftermath of a military coup.

International interventions, including French troops and United Nations peacekeepers, were deployed in subsequent years but failed to extinguish the violence, which has since crept southward into central regions.

The country’s trajectory shifted further following successive military coups in 2020 and 2021 that brought the current junta to power. The new leadership distanced itself from Western partners, expelled French forces, and forged closer ties with Russia, leaning more heavily on domestic military operations to contain the insurgency.

Despite repeated offensives, jihadist factions affiliated with both Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have continued to inflict deadly casualties on civilians, security personnel, and government officials.

Investigations into Sunday’s bombing are ongoing as the government moves to stabilise the situation and prevent further escalation.