A spokesman for Malian rebels told AFP that Malian troops and their Russian allies were battling separatists in the country’s north on Saturday when they suffered heavy defeats and heavy losses.
The West African country’s military leaders, who seized power in a 2020 coup, have made it their top priority to retake the country from separatist and jihadist forces, particularly in the pro-independence northern stronghold of Kidal.
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“Azawad fighters control Tinzawatene and the Kidal region further south,” said Mohamed Elmaould Ramadan, a spokesman for the CSP-DPA, a coalition of mainly Tuareg separatist armed groups.
“The Russian mercenaries and Malian troops have fled,” he added. “The others have surrendered.”
He also shared a video of numerous dead bodies of soldiers and their allies.
“The Malian army has withdrawn,” a local politician told AFP, adding that the provisional death toll was at least 17.
“The CSP people are still in Tinzawaten. The army and Wagner are no longer there,” he added, referring to the Russian mercenary group.
Fighting also broke out further south, towards Abeibara, the politician said.
“After three days of fighting, at least 15 Wagner fighters have been killed and arrested,” a former UN mission official in Kidal said, adding that “CSP rebels led the events in Tinzahuaten.”
Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist movement, claimed that “dozens” of Wagner fighters and soldiers had been killed or taken prisoner.
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But the Malian army claimed that its forces, which had been patrolling Tinzawaten for three days, launched a “pullback” operation between Friday and Saturday.
“Intense fighting against the terrorist coalition continues,” it said in a statement.
The military said the area remained “under surveillance and the situation is being particularly monitored”, adding that “five terrorist targets have been successfully dealt with”.
Long-standing anxiety
The Malian military has barely publicly disclosed its losses, and independent sources on the fighting zone have been largely silent due to pressure from the regime and armed groups.
The junta’s military reported on Friday that the helicopter had encountered “difficulties” and made an emergency landing.
A CSP spokesman said separatists rammed the helicopter, causing it to crash.
The biggest fighting in months broke out on Thursday between troops and separatists in Tinzawaten, near the Algerian border, after the army said it had taken control of In Afaraq, a commercial crossing in Kidal.
In 2023, separatist groups lost control of several districts after a military offensive saw junta forces capture Kidal, a northern separatist stronghold and a key target for the government.
There have been multiple accusations of human rights abuses against civilians by the army and Wagner’s forces, but Malian authorities have denied the allegations.
Mali has been in a state of instability since 2012 due to violence perpetrated by jihadists and criminal gangs.
In 2022, a military junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita came to power and abandoned the country’s traditional alliance with France in favor of Russia.
