Mali separatist coalition claims major victory over army and Russian allies

A predominantly Tuareg separatist coalition announced a significant triumph over Mali’s army and its Russian allies following three days of intense combat in a district near the Algerian border.

“Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday,” Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the CSP-DPA alliance, said in a statement. “A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged, and prisoners taken,” he added.

According to the statement, seven separatist fighters were killed and 12 wounded during the clashes in Tinzaouatene district. The Malian military, which has prioritized reclaiming all territory from separatist and rebel forces since a 2020 coup, has not provided an overall toll for its side or its Russian allies.

Large-scale fighting erupted on Thursday between the army and separatists in Tinzaouatene after the army announced it had retaken control of several districts. The district, nearly encircled by Algerian territory, has been a focal point of battles between separatist forces and the national army over the past decade.

The separatist spokesman shared videos showing several bodies believed to be from the opposing forces. In some videos, white soldiers were visible among the prisoners.

A local official and a former worker with the UN mission in Kidal told that the Malian army had retreated, with at least 15 fighters from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group killed or arrested. Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist movement, claimed that “dozens” of Wagner fighters and soldiers had been killed or taken prisoner.

The army stated that its units, which had been on patrol in Tinzaouatene district for three days, began a rearguard action between Friday and Saturday. However, the army rarely discloses its losses, and pressure from the ruling junta and armed groups has silenced most independent sources of information in the combat areas.

Separatist groups lost control of several districts in 2023 after a military offensive saw junta forces take Kidal. There have been multiple accusations of rights abuses against the civilian population by the army and Wagner forces, which Malian authorities have denied.

Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by violence from rebels linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as community self-defense and criminal organizations. A junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita took power in 2020, citing the civilian government’s inability to curb the unrest and shifted the country’s traditional alliance from former colonial power France to Russia.