2024-07-30 16:58:31
“Our forces decisively destroyed enemy columns on Saturday,” said Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesman for the CSP-DPA alliance, in a statement.
“A large amount of equipment and weapons were captured or damaged,” and prisoners were also taken, he added.
The report indicates that seven separatists were killed and another 12 fighters were wounded during the fighting in the Tinzauaten district.
After 2020 The military commanders of this West African country, who took power after the coup, tried with all their might to recover the entire territory of the country from the separatist and jihadist forces, and especially Kidali, the bastion of independence supporters in the northern part of the country.
Heavy fighting broke out between the army and separatists in Tinzauaten on Thursday after the army said it had taken control of several districts. This district is embedded in the territory of Algeria and has been the scene of fierce fighting between separatist forces and the regular army of the country for a whole decade.
The total number of victims of the Malian army and its Russian allies has not been disclosed, but a separatist spokesman provided AFP with videos showing bodies lying on the ground, which he said were the remains of fighters from the country in the conflict.
Some videos show white soldiers among the captives.
A local government official and former representative of the UN mission in Kidal told AFP that the Malian army had retreated and that at least 15 fighters from Russia’s Wagner group had been killed or captured in the clashes.
“Dozens” of soldiers of the “Wagner” group were killed
According to a representative of the separatist movement, “dozens” of fighters and soldiers of the Wagner group were killed or captured during the clashes.
Al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) said it attacked a Malian army convoy and its Wagner group allies south of Tinzauaten.
This statement was confirmed by the US organization SITE, which monitors radical groups.
JNIM claims to have killed 50 Russians and 10 Malians, although AFP could not confirm this claim. Tuareg rebels have denied the group’s involvement in the clashes and accused it of trying to usurp separatist glory.
The army said its units patrolled the Tinzauaten area for three days before launching a rear guard operation overnight Friday to Saturday.
The military rarely reports its losses, and pressure from the junta and armed groups has forced the silence of most independent sources from combat zones.
After the attack, during which junta forces in 2023 captured Kidali, separatist groups lost control of several districts.
The military and Wagner forces have been accused of violating the rights of civilians. Malian authorities have denied these allegations.
In addition, in Mali since 2012 jihadist insurgents and community self-defense and criminal organizations associated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are also violent.
in 2020 A junta led by Colonel Assim Goita, arguing that the civilian government was unable to contain the unrest, seized power and severed long-standing relations with its ally France in favor of Russia.
2024-07-30 16:58:31