BAMAKO — An alliance of the al-Qaeda-linked Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Tuareg separatists from the Liberation Front for Azawad launched coordinated attacks on military bases across multiple cities in Mali on Saturday, seizing the northern city of Kidal and announcing a siege of the capital, Bamako. Malian Defence Minister Sadio Camara and his family were killed in their home in Kati during the assault.

Armed violence has intensified across the country since Saturday. Mali observed two days of mourning following the killing of Camara, who was 47. Camara had taken part in the 2020 coup and was reinstated as defence minister after a second coup in May 2021, going on to facilitate the arrival of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, which was later replaced by a Russian Defence Ministry unit known as the Africa Corps.

Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin controls rural territory in northern and central Mali and maintains active cells around the capital. The Liberation Front for Azawad, an armed Tuareg separatist group fighting for an independent nation called Azawad, was formed in 2024 from the merger of earlier movements. The two groups jointly control Kidal following Saturday's attacks.

Mali has been beset by security crises since at least 2012. Tuareg separatists have fought for independence since before Mali's 1960 independence, with rebellions in the 1960s, 1990s, and 2012. The ISIL affiliate in Sahel Province controls areas in the northeastern city of Menaka.

Assimi Goita, 42, is the head of state of Mali. He helped the military seize power in 2020, removing the civilian government, and launched a second coup in May 2021, installing himself as president. Under Goita, Mali cut ties with the Economic Community of West African States and with France, evicted French troops and 15,000 United Nations peacekeepers, turned to Russian mercenaries for defence, and restarted its conflict with Tuareg separatists.

Russian fighters have been operating alongside the Malian army since 2021, with about 2,000 currently in Mali and roughly 400 in Niger and Burkina Faso. The mercenaries were initially deployed as members of the Wagner Group. In 2023, Russia integrated Wagner into its Defence Ministry as the Africa Corps, the same year Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin died. The Africa Corps is also present in the Central African Republic, Libya, and reportedly in Sudan.

Iyad Ag Ghaly, 72, leads Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which is reputed to have up to 10,000 fighters. Ghaly founded Ansar Dine, which merged with four other groups in 2017 to form the current organization. Alghabass Ag Intalla, 54, heads the Liberation Front for Azawad and previously served as Kidal's representative in parliament before the 2012 rebellion.