BAMAKO: Mali’s Defence Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an attack by an al-Qaeda affiliate on his residence near the main army base outside Bamako on Saturday, France’s RFI radio and two relatives said on Sunday.
The operation in Kati, 15 km north of Bamako, was part of a wider assault by the affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which cooperated with a Tuareg-dominated rebel group in what analysts and diplomats described as one of the largest coordinated attacks in the country in recent years.
A relative of Camara’s told Reuters he had been killed, while a Malian journalist known to be a brother-in-law of the defence minister posted about his death on Facebook.
A spokesperson for Mali’s defence ministry and a government spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday. A statement by the armed forces said operations were continuing in various parts of the country to repel the insurgents.
A Reuters witness reported gunfire in Kati on Sunday morning.
The United Nations called for an international response to violence and terrorism in West Africa’s Sahel region following Saturday’s assault, for which authorities have not provided a death toll.
“The Secretary General is deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali.
