Mali’s Defence Minister, General Sadio Camara, has been killed in a suicide car bomb attack, dealing a major blow to the West African nation’s military junta as it battles a wave of coordinated nationwide assaults.
Multiple international media outlets confirmed that the top general died on Saturday, April 25, 2026, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) struck his residence in Kati, a heavily fortified garrison town about 15 kilometres (nine miles) northwest of the capital, Bamako.
His second wife and two grandchildren were also killed in the explosion, which completely flattened the building.
The assassination was part of a large-scale, synchronised offensive launched by groups that have united against the state for the first time. The al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) simultaneously struck military installations, the international airport, and residential areas in Kati, Gao, Kidal, and Sévaré.
The attacks represent the most significant threat to Mali’s ruling junta since it seized power in 2020. Camara’s death is seen as a devastating loss for the armed forces; he was the architect of the ruling military council’s security strategy and was widely considered a potential successor to Interim President Assimi Goita.
Fierce fighting continues near the capital and in the north. The Tuareg rebels announced they had taken “total control” of the symbolic northern city of Kidal from Malian and Russian forces. The US State Department, the African Union, and the United Nations have all condemned the escalating violence.
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