Dozens of Wagner mercenaries were killed by jihadis and rebels over the weekend in northern Mali, in what one analyst described on Monday as the largest battleground blow to the shadowy Russian group in years. At least two others were taken captive.
Approximately 50 Wagner fighters in a convoy were killed in an al-Qaida ambush, which was joined by rebels who were in pursuit along the border with Algeria, said Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a security think tank, who said he counted bodies in a video of the aftermath.
Nasr said the mercenaries had been fighting mostly Tuareg rebels alongside Mali’s army when their convoy was forced to retreat into jihadi territory and ambushed south of the commune of Tinzaouaten.
Wagner confirmed in a Telegram statement on Monday that some of its fighters as well as Malian troops were killed in a battle with hundreds of militants. The mercenary group did not say how many of its fighters were killed. Mali’s army said it lost two soldiers, and 20 rebels were killed.
In a statement over the weekend, al-Qaida asserted that 50 Wagner fighters were killed in its attack meant to “avenge the massacres committed in the centre and north” of Mali in the yearslong battle against the extremists. The Tuareg rebels said an unspecified number of the mercenaries and Malian soldiers surrendered to them.
Russia has capitalized on the deteriorating relations between the West and coup-affected Sahel nations in West Africa to send fighters and assert its influence. Wagner has been active in the Sahel—tthe vast expanse south of the Sahara Desert—aas the mercenaries profit from seized mineral riches in exchange for their security services.
Wagner has been present in Mali since late 2021 following a military coup, replacing French troops and international peacekeepers in helping to fight militants who have threatened communities in the central and northern regions for more than a decade.
The group has an estimated 1,000 fighters in Mali.