San Francisco Frontiers - Mali separatists claim major victory over army, Russian allies

"Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday," said a statement by Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the CSP-DPA alliance.

"A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged" and prisoners taken, he added.

The statement said seven separatist fighters were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting in Tinzaouatene district.

The West African nation's military leaders who seized power in a 2020 coup have made it a priority to retake all of the country from separatist and jihadist forces, particularly in Kidal, a pro-independence bastion in the north.

Large-scale fighting broke out Thursday between the army and separatists in Tinzaouatene, after the army announced it had retaken control of several districts. The district is almost entirely surrounded by Algerian territory and has been at the heart of other battles between separatist forces and the national army over the pat decade.

No overall toll was available for the Malian army and its Russian allies, but the separatist spokesman shared videos with AFP showing several bodies lying on the ground believed to be from their side.

In some of the videos, white soldiers are visible among the prisoners.

A local official and a former worker with the UN mission in Kidal told AFP the Malian army had retreated with at least 15 fighters from Russia's Wagner mercenary group killed or arrested.

- 'Dozens' of Wagner fighters killed -

Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist movement, claimed that "dozens" of Wagner fighters and soldiers had been killed or taken prisoner.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) in a statement claimed they had attacked a Malian army convoy and Wagner allies south of Tinzaouatene.

That statement was verified by SITE, a US organisation that follows radicalised groups.

JNIM said it killed 50 Russians and 10 Malians, although AFP could not verify the claims. Tuareg rebels denied the group's involvement and accused it of trying to steal the separatists' spotlight.

The army said its units that had been on patrol in Tinzaouatene district for three days had begun rearguard action between Friday and Saturday.

The army rarely communicates its losses and pressure from the ruling junta along with armed groups has silenced most independent sources of information in the areas of fighting.

Separatist groups lost control of several districts in 2023 after a military offensive that saw junta forces take Kidal.

There have been several accusations of rights abuses of the civilian population by the army and Wagner forces. Malian authorities have denied the allegations.

Violence by jihadist rebels linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group as well as community self-defence and criminal organisations has also rocked Mali since 2012.

A junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita took power in 2020, citing the civilian government's inability to stem the unrest, and broke the country's traditional alliance with former colonial power France in favour of Russia.

M.Powell--SFF