(FILES) Colonel Sadio Camara, Minister of Defense and Veterans of Mali, is seen at the meeting of Ministers of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Ouagadougou, February 15, 2024. Mali’s defence minister died after an attack on his house, his family said on April 26, 2026, as the army fought a second day of battles with jihadist fighters and separatist rebels near the capital Bamako and other cities, putting the Sahel nation’s ruling junta under severe pressure.
Defence Minister Sadio Camara, his second wife and two of his grandchildren died after a car bomb attack on his home in the junta stronghold of Kita, outside Bamako, his family and an official said.
April 25’s shock synchronised attacks by Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition and the jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) targeted several areas in the vast arid country. (Photo by FANNY NOARO-KABRÉ / AFP)
Jihadist fighters killed the Mali junta’s defence minister General Sadio Camara with a car bomb left outside his residence near the capital Bamako, his family and government and military sources said Sunday.
The attack was staged on Saturday when jihadist and rebel groups launched coordinated attacks across the African nation including on the junta stronghold at Kati near the capital. Camara and other junta leaders live in Kati.
A relative, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the minister and at least three members of his family were killed by the car bomb left by a group affiliated to Al Qaeda.
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