Mali’s Defence Minister, General Sadio Camara has been killed in coordinated attacks on military sites nationwide, a government spokesperson has confirmed.
Camara was killed when assailants targeted his house, the spokesperson, Issa Ousmane Coulibaly, said in a statement on Sunday.
Camara’s residence in the garrison town of Kati came under assault on Saturday during simultaneous attacks by an al-Qaeda affiliate and Tuareg rebels.
Camara was a central figure in the military government that seized power after back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.
Haque said attackers carried out a suicide car bomb assault on Camara’s residence in Kati, a heavily fortified military town about 15km (9 miles) northwest of the capital, Bamako, where Interim President Assimi Goita also lives.
Camara’s second wife and two of his grandchildren were also killed in the attack on his home, the AFP news agency reported.
Gunmen attacked several other locations across Mali, including Bamako, as well as Gao and Kidal in the north and the central city of Sevare.
