Mali crisis: Who are the key leaders to know about?

EXPLAINERAs Mali faces its biggest security challenge in years, Al Jazeera profiles leaders from the government as well as armed groups.Armed violence has intensified in Mali since Saturday after an al-Qaeda-linked armed group working with separatists attacked several military bases across multiple cities, including areas where senior government officials live, and took control of the northern city of Kidal.Malian Defence Minister Sadio Camara and his family were killed in their home in Kati, a military garrison close to the capital, Bamako, the government announced on Sunday. Armed groups have announced that they are laying siege to Bamako.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Armed group announces siege on Mali capitallist 2 of 4What role has Russia played in Mali’s security and the Sahel region?list 3 of 4Mali’s Tuareg rebels say Russian fighters must withdraw from countrylist 4 of 4Video emerges of heavy firefight in Maliend of listMali has been beset by security crises since at least 2012. Al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) controls swaths of rural territory, especially in the north and central regions, and has active cells around the capital. Similarly, the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in Sahel Province (ISSP) controls areas in northeastern Menaka city.At the same time, armed Tuareg separatists of the Liberation Front for Azawad (FLA) group, fighting for an independent nation called Azawad, also in the north, are clashing with the military and allied Russian mercenaries who have been deployed since 2021. They control Kidal now, along with the JNIM, but they also want Gao, the largest city in the north, Menaka and Timbuktu, to complete the self-declared state of Azawad.These groups sometimes work together: they operate in the same areas and draw from the same pool of fighters from aggrieved communities. On Saturday, the JNIM worked with the FLA against the army.But who are the faces behind them? Here is a breakdown of who is who in the Mali crisis: