The garrison town of Kati, located about 15 kilometers northwest of Bamako, has long been considered the safest place in Mali because it hosts the country's main army base. On the morning of Saturday, April 25, this changed when a suicide car bomb destroyed the residential compound of General Sadio Camara, Mali's defense minister. Camara survived the initial blast and exchanged fire with the attackers, but he died later in hospital. His second wife and two of his grandchildren were also killed. At 47 years old, Camara had been a key figure in the coups of 2020 and 2021 that brought the current junta to power. He was known as the architect of Mali's strategic move away from France toward Russia.
The attack in Kati was not isolated. It was the beginning of a coordinated nationwide assault that hit several cities, including Bamako, Gao, Sevare, and Kidal. What made this offensive historically significant was that two previously separate groups worked together for the first time: JNIM, an al-Qaeda-aligned organization, and the Azawad Liberation Front, a Tuareg separatist movement formed only in November 2024.
The military consequences were swift. Within days, the JNIM-FLA coalition captured Kidal, a historically important Tuareg stronghold in Mali's far northeast. Malian troops and Russian forces withdrew from the city. This reversal was symbolically devastating because Malian forces backed by Wagner had retaken Kidal in November 2023, a victory the junta had celebrated as proof of restored territorial control.
Two other senior military leaders were wounded in the attacks: Modibo Koné, head of national intelligence, and Oumar Diarra, army chief of staff. Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga addressed the country and urged citizens not to panic. Mali held a state funeral for Camara on Thursday, April 30, attended by General Issa Ousmane Coulibaly. The junta that promised security in exchange for democracy and expelled French forces has now lost control of the north to rebel groups.