In the Republic of Mali (Africa), Tuareg rebels killed and wounded dozens of soldiers and mercenaries of the Russian private military company Wagner.
This was reported by Reuters with reference to the rebel movement (CSP-PSD).
Wagner PMC in Mali: rebels announced the elimination of 20 mercenaries
According to him, they captured armored vehicles, trucks and tanks during battles on Thursday and Friday in the city of Tinzaouaten near the border with Algeria.
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At the same time, the Malian Army reported that two of its soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in these battles, but about 20 were eliminated rebels.
Also on Friday, during a mission, one of the army helicopters crashed in the city of Kidal, no casualties.
Several Russian Telegram channels reported the death of at least 20 Wagner mercenaries in an ambush near the Algerian border.
Tuareg — an ethnic group inhabiting the Sahara region, particularly part of northern Mali. Many of them feel marginalized by the country's government.
The separatist group launched an uprising against the Malian junta government in 2012, but it was later taken over by Islamist groups.
The group signed a peace deal with the Malian government in 2015, but CSP-PSD pulled out of the talks in late 2022.
Mali on the map
Photo: Google maps
At the beginning of the year, Western media wrote that Russia was recruiting up to 20,000 new troops for the African Corps, who would replace the Wagner mercenaries across the continent, including in at least five countries friendly to Russia — Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic and Niger.
According to sources, the Russian African Corps, like the Wagner PMC, is focused on extracting raw materials in order to have money to finance the war in Ukraine.
