Separatists in Mali defeat army, Russian allies

SENEGAL: Tuareg separatist coalition, a major ethnic group in Mali, claimed on Sunday a major victory over the Malian army and its Russian allies following three days of intense fighting in Tinzaouatene district on the Algerian border.

“Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday. A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged” and prisoners taken, according to a statement by Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the CSP-DPA alliance.

Fighting on a scale not seen in months broke out Thursday between the army and separatists in Tinzaouaten, near the border with Algeria, after the army announced it had taken control of In-Afarak, a commercial crossroads in Kidal.

“Russian mercenaries and Malian armed forces have fled,” he added. Others have surrendered and the Malian army has retreated,” a local politician told AFP, citing at least 17 dead in a provisional toll. The CSP people are still in Tinzaouaten. The army and Wagner are no longer there,” he added, referring to the Russian mercenary group.