Following three days of intensive battle in an area near the Algerian border, a predominantly Tuareg separatist coalition declared a huge victory over Mali’s army and its Russian allies on Sunday.
“Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday,” stated Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the CSP-DPA alliance.
“A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged” and hostages were taken, he continued.
According to the statement, seven separatist gunmen were killed and 12 were wounded during the combat in Tinzaouatene district.
The West African nation’s military leaders, who took power in a 2020 coup, have made it a mission to reclaim the entire country from separatist and jihadist militants, particularly Kidal, a pro-independence stronghold in the north.
Large-scale combat broke out Thursday between the army and separatists in Tinzaouatene, after the army reported that it had retaken control of numerous districts. The region is nearly totally bordered by Algerian territory and has been the site of numerous confrontations between separatist militants and the national army during the past decade.
There was no overall toll for the Malian army and its Russian allies, but the separatist spokesman provided videos with AFP of many bodies on the ground thought to be from their side.
A local official and a former UN mission worker in Kidal told the media that the Malian army had retreated, killing or arresting at least 15 fighters from Russia’s Wagner mercenary outfit.
Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist organisation, stated that “dozens” of Wagner militants and troops had been killed or captured.
However, the army stated that its soldiers, which had been patrolling in the Tinzaouatene district for three days, had launched rearguard combat on Friday and Saturday.
The army rarely reports its casualties, and pressure from the ruling junta and armed groups has effectively suppressed most independent sources of information in the conflict zones.
In 2023, junta forces took control of Kidal, leading to the loss of several districts to separatist groups.
The army and Wagner forces have been accused of violating civilian rights, which Malian authorities have denied.
Since 2012, Mali has also been plagued by violence from jihadist rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as community self-defence and criminal organisations.