Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Deaths of Dozens of Wagner Members in Mali
The number of casualties represents the heaviest defeat suffered by the Wagner group since it intervened two years ago to assist the military council in Mali.
The intelligence group “SITE” reported that a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda claimed to have killed 50 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 10 Malian soldiers in an ambush in the Kidal region, northern Mali, near the border with Algeria, on Saturday.
The ambush occurred on the same day that the Separatist Strategic Framework for Peace, Security, and Development Movement claimed to have killed and wounded dozens of Malian soldiers and Wagner mercenaries in days of fighting in the border town of Tin Zaouatine.
The number of casualties appears to be a significant blow, seeming to represent the heaviest defeat suffered by the Wagner group since its intervention two years ago to assist the Malian military council in fighting Islamist groups that have been leading insurgent movements in the Sahel region since 2012.
Mali, where the army seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, says that the Russian forces there are not Wagner mercenaries but trainers assisting local forces with equipment purchased from Russia.
However, the Russian private military group stated in a rare statement on Monday that its members fought alongside Malian soldiers from July 22 to 27 near Tin Zaouatine and suffered heavy losses, including the death of their commander, Sergei Chevtchenko.
Several Russian military bloggers reported the death of at least 20 Wagner members. The intelligence group “SITE” cited a statement from the Al-Qaeda affiliate known as “Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen,” indicating that its fighters managed to “lure a convoy of the Malian army and Wagner mercenaries into a complex ambush” south of Tin Zaouatine.
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The Malian army and Wagner forces fell into the ambush after withdrawing from Tin Zaouatine, which they had attempted to seize from separatists led by the Tuaregs.
Two security sources said the convoy was attacked by separatists and the Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen group in a remote area, though the extent of coordination between the two groups is unclear. Malian authorities have accused Tuareg and jihadist groups of collaborating.
The Malian army stated in a statement on Monday that it began a “stabilization operation” in the area where rebels are active on July 19 and launched an attack on July 25.
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The statement added that sandstorms played in favor of their adversaries, allowing them to reorganize their ranks around the convoy. Intense fighting erupted, and the forces suffered significant human and material losses without providing further details.
The Tuaregs are an ethnic group living in the Sahara region, which includes parts of northern Mali, and many of them feel marginalized by the Malian government.
Separatists led by the Tuaregs began an uprising in 2012, which then moved to the arid northern Mali and was subsequently dominated by radical Islamist groups.
