Mali separatists say killed dozens of Wagner, government fighters

DAKAR - Separatist rebels in northern Mali said Thursday they killed dozens of fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner and government troops near the Algerian border at the end of July.

The Tuareg-led separatists said Thursday they killed 84 Wagner fighters and 47 Malian soldiers in three days of intense fighting that began on 25 July at a military camp at Tinzaouatene.

About 30 other troops or fighters, either "dead or seriously injured" were airlifted to Kidal, a key northern city, the Strategic Framework for the Defence of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA) alliance said.

It said there were also some charred bodies inside armoured vehicles and transport trucks.

Azawad is the generic name for all Tuareg Berber areas, particularly in the northern half of Mali and northern and western Niger. The separatists are fighting for an independent homeland.

The separatist alliance said they had taken seven Wagner and Malian government fighters hostage and said they had lost nine men in the fighting.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) also claimed they had attacked a Malian army convoy and allies from Wagner south of Tinzaouatene.

AFP could not corroborate the figures from independent sources. The army and the Wagner group had admitted heavy losses in the region.

HEAVY WAGNER LOSSES

Analysts said this was the heaviest loss suffered so far by Wagner in Africa.

The group spearheaded some of the Kremlin's longest and bloodiest military campaigns in Ukraine until a short-lived rebellion against the Russian government. It is now active in Africa.

The CSP-DPA said it had seized five armoured vehicles, five pickup trucks and several arms.

The Wagner group said the rebels gained the upper hand thanks to a sandstorm, which analysts say would have negated the air support superiority of the Malian forces and their allies.

The separatists on Thursday claimed over 50 civilians of Nigerien, Sudanese and Chadian origin had been killed in revenge drone attacks by neighbouring Burkina Faso.

It warned the Burkina Faso against getting involved "in a fighting that does not concern it".

The Malian army on Tuesday said it had along with Burkina Faso staged air attacks in the Tinzaouatene region following the fighting.

Malian has admitted it had suffered a "large number" of deaths during fighting in the north last week.

The West African nation's military leaders who seized power in a 2020 coup have made it a priority to retake all of the country from separatists and jihadist forces linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Under Colonel Assimi Goita, the junta broke off its traditional alliance with former colonial ruler France and has turned toward Russia.

After an eight-year lull, hostilities between Mali and the separatists resumed in August 2023. The army's offensive culminated in the storming of the northern pro-independence stronghold of Kidal in November.

Its capture was widely hailed across Mali as a symbolic success.

But the rebels refused to lay down their arms. Instead, they scattered across the mountainous desert region, with Malian forces in pursuit.

Near Tinzaouatene, the two sides engaged in three days of intense fighting at the end of July on a scale not seen for months.