A rebel coalition and jihadist group have claimed responsibility for the killing of Russian military instructors who fought alongside Malian soldiers during clashes in northern Mali on Saturday.
Clashes have resumed between the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa), accompanied by Russian instructors, and the northern rebels grouped under the coalition of the defense of the people of Azawad (CSP-DPA).
On patrol in the Tinzaouatène sector since July 25, the FAMa claimed on Friday July 26, that their forces had been attacked by the insurgents.
A FaMa statement said its troops responded and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers.
Fighting resumed on Saturday morning in the same area, after a lull of a few hours.
Last November, the Malian army retook the town of Kidal, previously under the control of the CSP. The Malian soldiers continued their progression and retook Aguelhock.
In a tweet, the president of the Malian transition, Assimi Goïta declared: “our mission is not complete….this consists of recovering and securing the integrity of the territory, without any exclusion, in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council”.
While reports suggested a withdrawal of the Malian army, the CSP-DPA claimed in a statement that its fighter had “routed the entire column of the Malian army and Wagner’s Russian mercenaries who left from Kidal, crisscrossing and sowing terror throughout the area”.
The coalition of the main rebel groups in northern Mali added that “the enemy has suffered enormous losses in human lives and materials”.
By midday, there were widespread reports of the deaths of several Russian instructors, although these allegations have not been confirmed by independent sources.
The General Staff of the Malian armies indicated that “on the night of July 26 to 27, 2024, the FAMa units patrolling in the Tinzaouatène sector for three days began their retrograde movement”, recognising that “the area remains a stronghold where terrorists and traffickers of all kinds have converged.”
The Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), for its part, claimed to have laid a “complex ambush” on a convoy of the Malian army and Wagner’s Russian mercenaries south of Tinzaouatène.
Jihadists from the Sahel branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claim to have eliminated 50 Russian “mercenaries” and 10 Malian soldiers.
They explain that “this attack comes in response to the continued crimes and massacres of the Malian army and Wagner’s mercenaries in the north and south of the country, and to the horrible violations and bloody attacks perpetrated by their impure hands against the populations of the Kidal region.
The private security company operating in Mali and other African countries has not reacted officially.
However, several accounts affiliated with Wagner on the social media platform Telegram have published numerous messages of condolence in connection with the events of the last 72 hours.
AC/Sf/as/APA