Mali’s Defense Minister Killed in Attacks by Islamist Insurgents

Mali’s defense minister, Gen. Sadio Camara, was among those killed in coordinated attacks by Al Qaeda-linked militants across the country over the weekend, a ⁠government spokesman said on state television late on Sunday.

The spokesman, Issa Ousmane Coulibaly, said a vehicle “laden with explosives and driven by a suicide attacker” had targeted General Camara’s residence, in the country’s military headquarters just outside the capital, Bamako.

General Camara was a key figure in the 2020 coup that toppled the government of then-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. He was Mali’s main point of contact with Russia, which provided security services for the junta first through the Wagner paramilitary group and then Africa Corps.

Read more: The New York Times