Al-Qaida Affiliate Kills Dozens of Russian, Malian Soldiers in North Africa
According to SITE Intelligence Group, Islamic insurgents launched an ambush in Mali’s northern Kidal region over the weekend that killed at least 50 mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group and 10 Malian troops, dealing a severe blow to Moscow’s military operations in the area.
SITE, a United States-based counterterrorism consultancy group, said on Tuesday that the attack occurred while Russian and Malian troops were already retreating from the border town of Tinzaouaten near Algeria after suffering heavy losses to forces with an armed Tuareg rebel movement.
The group, which is based in Mali’s northern Sahara region and calls itself the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security, and Development (CSP-PSD), has been waging an active insurgency against the Malian government since 2012.
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CSP-PSD claimed earlier this week that it had killed dozens of Wagner and Malian forces after days of heavy fighting.
During the retreat, an African branch of al-Qaida known as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin reportedly took advantage of rough weather conditions, including sandstorms, to launch a second surprise ambush.
The Malian army, which seized power in a series of coups from 2020 to 2021, claimed that it had deployed forces as part of a “stabilization operation” in rebel-held territory on July 19 and eventually went on the offensive on July 25.
In a rare statement released Monday, Wagner confirmed that its forces, while fighting alongside Malian troops, suffered heavy losses, even losing battle-hardened commander Sergei Shevchenko in the fighting.
The Malian government claims that the Russian fighters in the country are Russian soldiers deployed as part of a training mission rather than mercenaries.
