Russia’s Wagner mercenary group stated on Monday it had suffered extreme losses, together with a commander, throughout battles with separatist forces in northeast Mali final week.
The West African nation, which has been actively preventing rebel jihadist and separatist forces in its north for over a decade, turned to Wagner for help after a navy junta got here to energy in 2020.
From July 22 to 27, the Malian armed forces and fighters from Wagner’s thirteenth Assault Squad “fought fierce battles” towards a coalition of Tuareg separatist forces and jihadist militants, in accordance with a press release from Razgruzka Vagnera, a Telegram channel linked to Wagner’s management.
Over a interval 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 assertion stated.
The commander of the thirteenth Assault Squad, Sergei “Prud” Shevchenko, was killed in motion, it added, and his group’s closing message was: “There are three of us left. We are continuing to fight.”
A spokesman for the CSP-DPA alliance, a coalition together with primarily Tuareg separatist forces, claimed victory over Mali’s military and Wagner on Sunday.
Mali’s navy leaders, who seized energy in a coup, have made it a said precedence to retake the complete nation from separatist and jihadist forces, significantly Kidal, a pro-independence bastion within the north.
Source: www.anews.com.tr