Mali Defense Minister Sadio Camara was reportedly killed in an attack by the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group JNIM on his residence at the Kati military base outside Bamako, according to France’s Radio France Internationale Sunday.
Attacks continued Sunday, a day after an al-Qaida affiliate and Tuareg rebels carried out one of the largest coordinated attacks in the country in recent years, as gunfire rang out in a garrison town near Mali's capital, a Reuters witness said.
The U.N. called for an international response to violence and terrorism in the West African Sahel region following Saturday's large-scale assaults.
"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali. He strongly condemns these acts of violence," a U.N. spokesperson posted on X.
An al-Qaida affiliate and Tuareg rebels claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks around the capital, Bamako, in gold-producing areas and elsewhere across Mali, in one of the boldest operations insurgents have mounted in their campaign against the military-led government.
The final toll of deaths and injuries remained unclear Sunday, as did the fate of the contested city of Kidal, which the insurgents claimed to have recaptured from government forces in the assault.
