Mali’s northern Tuareg rebels reported they had killed and injured dozens of soldiers and Wagner mercenaries over two days of fighting near the Algerian border. This follows the army’s statement that it had lost two soldiers but killed around 20 rebels.
The rebel group, the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), announced on Saturday that they had seized armored vehicles, trucks, and tankers during the battles in the border town of Tinzaouaten on Thursday and Friday. They also claimed to have damaged a helicopter, which later crashed in the town of Kidal, several hundred kilometers away.
The Malian army confirmed that two soldiers had been killed and ten injured. They noted that one of their helicopters had crashed in Kidal on Friday during a routine mission, but no casualties occurred from the crash.
Several Russian military bloggers reported on Sunday that at least 20 Wagner group members were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border.
“Employees of the Wagner PMC (Group), who were moving in a convoy with government troops, were killed in Mali … Some were captured,” stated prominent Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, known as War Gonzo. The Baza Telegram news channel, with connections to Russia’s security structures, also reported that at least 20 Wagner fighters were killed. These reports could not be independently verified by Reuters.
The CSP released another statement on Sunday claiming they had fought and defeated a Malian army battalion backed by Wagner. They asserted the enemy had been “annihilated,” and that the few surviving soldiers and mercenaries were taken prisoner. Seven CSP fighters were killed and 12 injured, the statement added.
Wagner has been significantly involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine, but its future became uncertain after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in August, two months after leading a brief mutiny against the Russian defense establishment.
Mali, where military authorities seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, is battling a long-standing Islamist insurgency. The Malian government claims that Russian forces present in the country are not Wagner mercenaries but trainers assisting local troops with equipment purchased from Russia. According to Baza’s report on Sunday, Wagner fighters have been in Mali since at least 2021.
The Tuareg, an ethnic group in the Sahara region including parts of northern Mali, have long felt marginalized by the Malian government. They launched an insurgency against Mali’s junta government in 2012, but Islamist groups later hijacked the rebellion. The Tuareg separatist group signed a peace agreement with Bamako in 2015, but the CSP-PSD withdrew from the talks at the end of 2022.
