Unprecedented attacks in Mali by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists and Tuareg separatists who killed the defence minister and seized a key town are the dramatic result of a new alliance the two groups forged a year ago.
The separatists and the jihadists have divergent interests, but are united against a common enemy, experts say: the military junta that has ruled the west African country since 2020 and its Russian paramilitary backers.
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