Russia’s Wagner mercenary group announced that it had recovered the bodies of its fighters killed during a fierce July battle against Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants in Mali, Reuters reported.
Mali, which has experienced military coups in both 2020 and 2021, is faced with a long-standing Islamist insurgency. Wagner confirmed it suffered significant losses during the battle, losing veteran fighters in the Mali ambush, but has provided limited details about the incident.
“An operation was completed to return the bodies of our brothers, who in July 2024 heroically took up the fight with Islamists many times outnumbered,” Wagner said in a rare statement on Telegram late on Tuesday.
The July battle shows the peril faced by Russian mercenaries like Wagner, who are operating in support of military juntas struggling to suppress separatists and Islamic State and Al Qaeda-linked groups across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger’s Sahel region.
Wagner reported that its forces had navigated through a desert area near Tinzaouaten, in northern Mali, which was “teeming with Azawad militants,” underscoring the volatile and dangerous environment they’re working in.
“The bodies of our fallen brothers will return to the homeland. We do not leave our own, and all of them – dead or alive – will be returned home,” Wagner said.
In Africa, Wagner emerged in Sudan in 2017 as the deniable face of Russian operations. Its enterprises soon ranged from protecting African coup leaders to gold mining and fighting jihadists. Wagner is also active in the Central African Republic. It first appeared in Mali in late 2021.
