By Tiemoko Diallo
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Mali has carried out air strikes on insurgent targets in and around the town of Tinzaouaten, in its vast northern desert, after ethnic Tuareg rebels and Islamist fighters killed a large number of Malian soldiers and their Russian allies in recent days.
Mali’s army and the Russian private military company Wagner both said they had suffered losses between July 22 and 27 in the Tinzaouaten area, on the border with Algeria, in what appears to be Wagner’s worst setback on African soil.
The Russians have been in Mali since the army, which seized power in two coups in 2020 and 2021, kicked out French and U.N. troops that had been involved in fighting Islamist insurgents for a decade, replacing them with Wagner.
The Malian army said late on Tuesday that it had attacked what it called a “coalition of terrorists” in the Tinzaouaten area jointly with forces from its neighbour Burkina Faso, which is also run by a pro-Russian military junta.
“Specific high-value targets including caches, logistical positions and vehicles have been hit,” it said, urging civilians to stay away from insurgent positions.
The Tuareg rebel group that was involved in the earlier fighting, known as the Permanent Strategic Framework or CSP, its acronym in French, condemned the air strikes and said a drone operated by Burkina Faso had killed dozens of civilians.
It said the dead were mostly African migrant labourers, including from Niger, Chad and Sudan, who were working in local artisanal gold mines.
“This attack against civilians demonstrates the ongoing chaos and failure of these military governments,” it said in a statement.
Burkina Faso’s military government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neither Mali nor Wagner have said how many troops they lost in the recent clashes, though Wagner did say the commander of its unit in the area, Sergei Shevchenko, was among the dead. Russian military bloggers estimated 20 or more Wagner personnel had been killed.
The CSP said it had killed and injured dozens of Malians and Russians, while an Islamist group affiliated with al Qaeda said it had killed 50 Russians and 10 Malian soldiers.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, all former Western allies that have pivoted towards Russia since their militaries took power in coups, signed a mutual defence pact last year, which Mali invoked to explain Burkina Faso’s role in the air strikes.
The Tuareg live in the Sahara desert, which includes parts of northern Mali. Many complain of marginalisation by the Malian government.
Tuareg separatists launched an insurgency against Mali in 2012, demanding an independent homeland called Azawad. Their struggle later became entangled with an al Qaeda-aligned Islamist rebellion in the same region.
(Additional reporting by Sofia Christensen; Writing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Estelle Shirbon and Kevin Liffey)
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