A branch of Al Qaeda claims to have killed 10 Mali soldiers and 50 Russian mercenaries in Mali

According to the SITE Intelligence Group, an al Qaeda group claimed to have murdered 10 Malian soldiers and 50 Russian Wagner mercenaries in an ambush on Saturday in Mali’s northern Kidal district, close to the Algerian border.

The ambush happened the same day that the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), a Tuareg rebel force, claimed to have killed and injured numerous Wagner mercenaries and Malian soldiers during days of battle at the border town of Tinzaouaten.

The number of casualties is alarming, and it seems to be Wagner’s biggest setback since it intervened two years ago to support the junta in Mali in combating Islamist organizations that have been launching insurgencies throughout the Sahel since 2012.

Mali, where the army overthrew the government in coups in 2020 and 2021, has stated that Russian servicemen there are trainers assisting local troops with Russian-purchased weaponry rather than Wagner mercenaries.

Wagner did, however, claim in a rare statement on Monday that its forces sustained severe losses—including the death of their commander Sergei Shevchenko—during their combat with Malian soldiers from July 22–27 in the vicinity of Tinzaouaten.

At least 20 Wagner deaths were recorded by a few Russian military blogs.
A statement from Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al Qaeda affiliate, was cited by SITE on Sunday. The statement claimed that JNIM’s militants had successfully “ensnared a convoy of the Malian army and Wagner mercenaries in a complex ambush” south of Tinzaouaten.

Following their withdrawal from Tinzaouaten, which they had attempted to wrest from Tuareg-led separatists, the Malian army and Wagner forces were ambushed.
According to two security sources, the convoy was attacked in a distant area by JNIM and separatists, though it was unclear how much the two groups coordinated.

Tuareg and terrorist organizations have been charged with collaboration by Malian authorities.

In a statement released on Monday, the Mali army announced that it had begun a “stabilization operation” in the region beset by rebels on July 19 and had begun an offensive on July 25.

The opponents then benefited from sandstorms, which gave them time to reorganize around the convoy. The statement said that there were violent clashes and significant material and human losses, but it did not elaborate.

An ethnic group known as the Tuareg people live in the Sahara, which includes areas of northern Mali. Many of them feel that the government of Mali has marginalized them.

2012 saw the start of an uprising by Tuareg-led separatists, which was eventually driven back into Mali’s dry north and taken over by Islamist militant organizations.