On the night of March 31 to April 1, 2025, a Malian military drone crashed near Tin-Zawaten, a strategic town on the Mali-Algeria border.
The incident quickly gave rise to conflicting official statements and a claim by an armed group, with no independent confirmation, at this stage, to determine the exact circumstances.
In a statement published on April 1, the General Staff of the Malian Armed Forces stated that “an unmanned aircraft belonging to the FAMa crashed near Tinzaouatene, in the Kidal region,” during “a routine territorial surveillance mission.”
According to the statement seen by APA, the aircraft reportedly touched down in an uninhabited area, causing no casualties or material damage. Onboard safety devices also reportedly prevented any explosion. An investigation was opened to establish the causes of the incident.
A few hours later, the Algerian Ministry of Defense announced that it had “shot down an armed reconnaissance drone” that same night, after the aircraft penetrated “two kilometres” into Algerian airspace.
The strike was carried out by a Territorial Air Defense unit of the 6th Military Region. The Algerian statement did not specify the origin of the device, but presented the operation as an “act of vigilance and protection of national territory.”
At the same time, a third actor entered the scene. The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), an armed group active in northern Mali, claimed responsibility for the destruction of an Akinci drone, recently acquired by the FAMa from Turkey.
On social media, accounts affiliated with the movement shared several images showing debris from
an unidentified aircraft, topped with an FLA flag. No independent verification has confirmed either the authenticity of these images or the exact identity of the aircraft involved.
The ALF describes Tin-Zawaten as the “graveyard of the famous Akinci drone” and claims to have “shot down almost all the Albatros and Sukhoi 25 fighter jets” used by the Malian army.
In the past, the group – which transitioned from the Coordination of Azawad Movements
to the Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad before becoming the ALF last December – had already claimed responsibility for the destruction of Malian military aircraft, notably in September 2023 in Gao and in May 2024 in Menaka.
In these cases, the authorities cited technical incidents.
At this stage, no independent source – military or civilian – has formally confirmed the identity of the downed drone or the precise circumstances of its loss. Several hypotheses therefore coexist: technical failure, neutralisation by the Algerian defense, or targeted destruction by armed groups. The lack of details on the exact type of aircraft involved makes verification even more difficult.
According to military analysts, even latest-generation drones like the Akinci, equipped with long-range strike capabilities, can be vulnerable in a hostile environment, particularly when faced with
portable surface-to-air fire or coordinated ambushes.
This episode demonstrates the complexity of the Sahel-Saharan drama, where armed conflicts, cross-border tensions, and technological rivalries overlap; and where, sometimes, the truth crashes to the ground with the debris.
MD/ac/fss/as/APA