The Wagner group admits heavy losses in battles against rebels in Mali

Mali, where military juntas seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, is fighting an Islamist insurgency that has been going on for years.

The coup plotters claim that the Russian forces in the country are not Wagner mercenaries, but instructors who will train local forces to use Russian equipment.

The CSP-PSD rebel movement said on Saturday it had captured armored vehicles, trucks and tankers in battles near the border town of Tinzaouaten.

In a rare statement, the Wagner Group acknowledged that its forces had fought alongside Malian soldiers from July 22 to 27 at Tinzaouaten and that the Wagner fighters were led by Sergei Shevchenko, nicknamed “Dam”.

Hard battles

– On the first day, the group of “Dam” eliminated most of the Islamists and put the rest on the run. But a subsequent sandstorm allowed the radical rebels to regroup and increase the number of fighters to 1,000, said the group’s statement, which was published on Telegram.

Wagner goes on to say that their fighters fought back against the rebels, but that heavy shelling led to losses for both Wagner’s group and the Malian army.

Wagner leader killed

The last message from the group on July 27 reads: “The three of us stayed. We continue to fight”. Wagner states that Shevchenko was killed in the fighting.

The Malian army said at the weekend that two of its soldiers had been killed and ten wounded. One of their helicopters also crashed in Kidal on a routine mission, but no one died in the crash, according to the army.

The Wagner group was hired by the junta in Mali about two and a half years ago to help secure control of the northern regions. At the same time, the authorities demanded that peacekeeping forces from other countries leave Mali.