A commander of a Russian mercenary group was killed in Mali after an attack by rebel fighters during a sandstorm, the group said.
The military regime in the West African state turned to the notorious Wagner group in 2021, seeking support in combating jihadist and separatist forces.
On Monday, the Russian group – which has now morphed into a group called Africa Corps – said it joined the Malian military in “fierce battles” against separatist rebels and jihadist militants last week.
However, the separatists launched a major attack, killing around 20 to 50 mercenaries, sources close to the Africa Corps told the BBC.
Similarly, several Russian military bloggers reported that at least 20 people were killed in the ambush near the northeastern city of Tinzaouaten.
In an official statement published on Telegram, the Russian mercenary group did not specify how many of its soldiers died, but confirmed that it had suffered “losses”. This included a commander, Sergei Shevchenko, who was killed in action.
The mercenaries initially “destroyed most of the Islamists and put the rest to flight,” the statement said.
“However, [an] The ensuing sandstorm allowed the radicals to regroup and increase their numbers to 1,000 people,” he added.
The Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), a separatist group dominated by the ethnic Tuareg, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“On Saturday, our forces dealt a decisive blow to the enemy columns,” the CSP-PSD spokesperson told AFP.
Prisoners were taken and “a large amount of equipment and weapons were damaged or captured,” the spokesperson added.
The rebel group shared video footage showing several white men in military uniforms lying motionless on a sandy plain.
Another shows a group of men, mostly black, blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs.
The BBC was unable to confirm the authenticity of the videos.
Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, also claimed sole responsibility for the attack.
The Islamist militants said they killed 50 Russian mercenaries in a “complex ambush”.
More than a decade ago, Mali’s central government lost control of much of the north following a Tuareg rebellion, which was sparked by demands for a separate state.
The country’s security has been further complicated by the involvement of Islamic militants in the conflict.
When seizing power in coups d’état in 2020 and 2021, the military cited the government’s inability to confront this unrest.
The new junta broke Mali’s long-standing alliance with former colonial power France in favor of Russia in a bid to quell the unrest.
But the Wagner mercenary group was in fact dismantled after a mutiny by its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last year, leading to its replacement in West Africa by the Africa Corps.
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