Russia's Wagner mercenary group has said that it had suffered severe losses, including a commander, during battles with separatist forces in northeast Mali last week.
The West African nation, which has been actively fighting insurgent jihadist and separatist forces in its north for over a decade, turned to Wagner for support after a military junta came to power in 2020.
From July 22 to 27, the Malian armed forces and fighters from Wagner's 13th Assault Squad "fought fierce battles" against a coalition of Tuareg separatist forces and jihadist militants, according to a statement from Razgruzka Vagnera, a Telegram channel linked to Wagner's leadership.
According to the statement, "fighters of the 13th Assault Detachment of the Wagner PMC, led by commander Sergei Shevchenko, call sign 'Pond', together with servicemen of the Malian Armed Forces FAM, entered into an unequal battle with superior forces of Islamists from the Coordination Movement of Azawad (CMA) and Al-Qaeda in the Sahel (JNIM)."
The battle lasted for "several days."
According to the account, Wagner and regular Malian troops received information that "large detachments of radicals" had arrived in the Tin-Zoutine area.
A reconnaissance unit discovered "a large concentration of (jihadist) forces: detachments of militants, totaling about 100 people, as well as more than 10 pickups with large-caliber weapons."
Wagner then launched an attack, destroying "up to 50 radicals and six units of equipment. The remnants of the militants were unable to resist" Wagnerites and "fled the battlefield".
But the Jihadists, led by "field commander Abda-Rahman Zaza" then struck back and over a period of two days, the separatists "increased the number of massive attacks, using heavy weapons, drones and SVBIEDs (suicide car bombs), which caused losses on the part of Wagner and Malian army soldiers", the statement said.
The commander of the 13th Assault Squad, Sergei "Prud" Shevchenko, was killed in action, it added, and his group's final message was: "There are three of us left. We are continuing to fight."
A spokesman for the CSP-DPA alliance, a coalition including mainly Tuareg separatist forces, claimed victory over Mali's army and Wagner on Sunday.
Mali's military leaders, who seized power in a coup, have made it a stated priority to retake the entire country from separatist and jihadist forces, particularly Kidal, a pro-independence bastion in the north.
(With newswires)
