Mali drone strikes have resulted in the deaths of at least 21 individuals in a northern hamlet, according to insurgents

According to Tuareg rebels, drone strikes on Sunday killed at least 21 people, including 11 children, in the north Mali village of Tinzaouaten, close to where the army was severely damaged last month.

Shortly after a large number of Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner mercenaries were slain at Tinzaouaten in July by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, Mali had already launched airstrikes on insurgent sites in and around the town.

According to a spokesman for the rebel coalition known as the Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA), the town, which is close to the Algerian border, was targeted by drone attacks once more on Sunday.

A pharmacy and crowds of people were the targets of the strikes, which resulted in a provisional death toll of 21 civilians, including the drugstore manager and 11 children. There were several further injuries and significant material damage.

The drone was operated by Wagner mercenaries and the army of neighboring Burkina Faso, according to the CSP-DPA.

Requests for comment were not answered by the military governments of Burkina Faso, Russia’s defense ministry, or Mali.

Wagner may have suffered its greatest loss since intervening to support Mali’s junta in its struggle against rebel groups two years ago during the combat that took place near Tinzaouaten in late July.

According to Tuareg rebels, they murdered 47 troops from Mali and at least 84 Wagner mercenaries. Ten Malian troops and fifty Wagner mercenaries were slain, according to an al Qaeda affiliate.

Wagner claimed that Mali had sustained significant losses, although neither party has disclosed the exact number of soldiers lost.

Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are popular among jihadist rebels and Tuareg separatists operating in northern Mali.

After Islamist militants used a Tuareg revolt as a cover for their own, the nation has been dealing with jihadist insurgencies since 2012.

Since 2020, coups have occurred in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger as a result of frustration with the government’ inability to restore stability.

As a result, juntas have severed connections with their regional and Western friends in favor of Russia.

In the meanwhile, the government of Mali and the separatists struck a peace deal in 2015. However, CSP-DPA left the negotiations in 2022.