Russia’s Wagner says it took losses in heavy fighting against rebels in Mali

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said on Monday that its fighters and Malian soldiers took losses in heavy fighting against Tuareg rebels near Mali’s border with Algeria.

Mali, where military authorities seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, is battling a years-long extremists insurgency. It has said Russian forces there are not Wagner mercenaries but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Russia.

 Some 1,000 militants belonging to the Coordination of Azawad Movements group as well as from al-Qaeda, both banned in Russia, have attacked Russian fighters near Tinzaouaten in Mali, the Wagner group said in a statement.

"On the first day, the group destroyed most of the Islamists and forced the rest to retreat. However, a sandstorm which occurred later allowed the radicals to regroup and increase their numbers to 1,000 people. In this regard, the command of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) decided to transfer additional forces to the area of combat operations to assist the 13th assault squad," the group said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

According to it, on July 25, the militants attacked again, "but thanks to the coordinated actions of storm troopers and Malian servicemen, the attempted attack was repelled." "Over the next two days, radicals have stepped up the number of massive attacks, using heavy weapons, drones and car bombs, which caused losses on the part of the Wagner PMC and the Malian armed forces," the statement said.

The group pointed out that the last radiogram of the attackers, sent in the evening on July 27, reported that only three Russian fighters remained alive; they continue to fight. It is also specified that the commander of the 13th assault squad Sergey Shevchenko was killed in action.