Published on : 25/04/2022 – 14:07
The Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda, announced that it had captured a Russian from the Wagner group in Mali.
Le Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM)the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, linked to Al-Qaeda, detains a Russian member of the Wagner militiaaccording to a press release to which France 24 had access on Sunday April 24.
“During the first week of April, (we) captured a soldier from the Russian forces Wagner in the region of Ségou”, in the center of Mali, indicates this text in Arabic. This is the first time that the GSIM announces the capture of a Russian engaged on the front of the anti-jihadist fight in the country.
“These murderous forces participated with the Malian army in a parachute operation on a market in the village of Moura where they confronted several mujahideen before encircling this locality for five days and killing hundreds of innocent civilians,” the text adds.
According to the same press release, “the mujahideen also faced two parachute operations carried out by mercenaries above the cliffs of Bandiagara, 70 km from Sévaré (central Mali, editor’s note). The mujahideen succeeded in confiscating weapons of the mercenaries who fled.”
Controversial operation in Moura
Le Mali has been plunged since 2012 into a deep security crisis that the deployment of foreign forces has not been able to resolve.
Led by the military since August 2020, the country has made massive use of what it presents as “instructors” from Russia while Westerners (Paris and Washington in particular) denounce the presence in the country of “mercenaries” of the group private Russian Wagner, which the Malian colonels in power strongly deny.
Moura was the scene at the end of March of a controversial operation by the Malian army. According to the Bamako authorities, Malian soldiers “neutralized” 203 jihadists there, but the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses members of the Malian Armed Forces (Fama) of having summarily executed 300 civilians there, with the help of foreign fighters.
The UN mission in Mali (Minusma) has since asked the Malian authorities in vain to allow it to go there to investigate in order to shed light on these events.
With AFP