Ebenezer Obadare
Thousands of armed fighters belonging to the al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and ethnic Tuareg separatists under the umbrella of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) launched coordinated attacks on multiple cities in Mali on Saturday, April 25. They targeted Bamako, the capital, as well as Gao, Kidal, Mopti, and Sevare—all sites of major military bases in the northern and central regions of the beleaguered country. If the military government of Assimi Goïta has gotten used to sporadic attacks by JNIM militants—who have effectively imposed a fuel blockade on Bamako for the better part of a year—it seems to have been caught off guard by the alliance between JNIM and FLA, and by their rare decision to target several cities simultaneously.
From the standpoint of the emergency allies, the attacks were a success, as they managed to kill Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara at his residence in Kati, a garrison town eleven miles from Bamako.
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