Several killed as separatists clash with Malian army, Russian allies in the conflict-hit north
The clashes began with a military offensive in the northern Kidal region on Thursday, the Malian army said in a statement. On Friday, the Malian military's logistics convoy was ambushed before the attack was repelled, it added.
The separatists reported they killed 'dozens' of Malian soldiers and fighters with the Kremlin-controlled African Corps in the ambush.
The Azawad separatist movement has been fighting for years to create the state of Azawad in northern Mali. They once drove security forces out of the region before a 2015 peace deal that has since collapsed was signed to pave the way for some ex-rebels to be integrated into the Malian military.
'We recovered 12 trucks loaded with cereals, tankers full of diesel, one military pickup, and one armored vehicles from the 30 vehicles in the convoy,' Mohamed Maouloud Ramadan, spokesman for the Azawad separatists, said in a statement that acknowledged the death of three of their members.
Viral videos shared by the separatists showed military trucks on fire in a large swathe of desert land amid gunfire as gun-wielding hooded young men posed in front of the trucks. The videos also showed bodies with uniforms that resemble those of the Malian army. The Associated Press could not independently verify the videos.
The latest clashes show how difficult it is for security forces in Mali to operate in difficult terrains like Kidal, according to Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South think tank.
'It's difficult to gather actionable intelligence to protect their convoys, and this gives a significant advantage to armed and jihadist groups', said Lyammouri.
The latest attack occurred days after Russia's mercenary group Wagner – which for more than three years helped Malian security forces in the fight against armed groups – announced it was leaving the country. The Africa Corps, under the direct command of the Russian defense ministry, said it will remain in Mali.
There are around 2,000 mercenaries in Mali, according to U.S. officials. It is unclear how many are with Wagner and how many are part of the Africa Corps.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
33 minutes ago
- The Hill
Nvidia CEO dismisses Trump tariff concerns: ‘We'll work through it'
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed concerns over President Trump's tariff agenda, saying the California-based company will 'work through it' and emphasized that the U.S. needs to bolster its production of chips. 'Nobody likes disruptions and no one likes abrupt changes, but these settlements will — President Trump will settle these deals and countries will reorganize and resettle, and we'll work through it,' Huang said in an interview with USA Today published on Friday. Trump has reshuffled U.S. trade policy since returning to the White House, and he has recently notified countries about the tariff rates some will face at the start of next month. The president has alerted nations about the 'reciprocal' rate that will come into effect on Aug. 1, and some of warned of countermeasures and called for further negotiations. 'Every single year there were rules and taxes and tariffs and policies and regulations, and we survived. I have every confidence that the world is going to survive this, companies will survive this and whatever it turns out to be, we'll make the best of it,' Huang said. This week, Nvidia became the first public-traded company to hit a market capitalization above $4 trillion. Huang met with Trump at the White House the same day. The two have had five meetings since the president took office on Jan. 20, USA Today reported. Huang said on Friday that the U.S. has to manufacture more semiconductors, arguing the push will yield benefits across various sectors. 'Absolutely. I believe President Trump's vision, his bold vision to manufacture in the United States, it's great for our industries, it's great for our society,' the Nvidia head said to USA TODAY. 'We've lost a lot of manufacturing capability and skills, which is really great for skilled craft and people that work with their hands and build things,' he added. 'We want to celebrate that. We want to bring that back to the United States. It's very important to national security, industrial security, supply chain resilience.' His remarks come as a bipartisan duo, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.), sent a letter to Huang this week, asking him to reconsider an upcoming visit to China over national security concerns.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Putin backs ‘zero enrichment' for Iran's nuclear capabilities: Report
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin backs a nuclear deal with Iran in which the country is unable to enrich uranium. Putin privately communicated his stance to President Trump and Iranian officials, sources told Axios. Iran has long insisted it should retain the ability to enrich uranium, while both the US and Israel have demanded the Islamic Republic completely abandon its enrichment capabilities — the biggest hurdle in striking a deal. Advertisement 'Putin would support zero enrichment. He encouraged the Iranians to work towards that in order to make negotiations with the Americans more favorable. The Iranians said they won't consider it,' one European official with direct knowledge of the issue told Axios. 3 Putin has reportedly told both the US and Iran in private that a deal should not allow Tehran to enrich uranium. MIKHAIL METZEL/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock Iran rejected such limitations. Advertisement 'In any negotiated solution, the rights of the Iranian people on the nuclear issue, including the right to enrichment, must be respected,' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told diplomats in Tehran Saturday. 'We will not have any agreement in which enrichment is not included.' 3 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Saturday Iran has a right to enrichment. via REUTERS Russia walks a diplomatic tightrope in the Middle East, maintaining warm relations with Israel even as it deepens military and economic cooperation with Iran. Advertisement The reports stand in stark contrast to the views the Kremlin has adopted publicly as Iran's main backer on the nuclear issue. No later than this week, Moscow's top diplomat said Russia was ready to refill Iran's depleted uranium stocks. And last month, Putin said he had sent 200 Russian experts to work at an Iranian nuclear plant. 3 Tehran and Washington had been engaged in talks since April, but those were disrupted by the attacks. Getty Images Tehran and Washington had been engaged in talks since April, but those efforts were disrupted when Israel launched a surprise June 13 attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, just two days before a planned meeting in Oman, and 61 days after US President Donald Trump set a 60-day deadline for talks. Advertisement Araghchi meanwhile, says Tehran is open to new talks on a deal. 'We are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires' he said. With wires
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Texas Democrat: Government failed ‘at every level' amid deadly flooding
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said during a recent interview that the government failed 'at every level' in preparation and response to the deadly flooding in Texas that has killed more than 120 people. 'There are families across the state in tears today, suffering so much loss, and this was totally unnecessary to have this big loss, so many lives, so many children's lives taken when we have the technological means to do something about it,' Doggett said during his Saturday morning appearance on MSNBC 'Velshi.' 'I believe there have been failures at every level of government, from the county to the state and the federal,' Doggett told anchor Ali Velshi. Doggett mentioned President Trump bashing a Texas-based reporter on Friday, during his visit to the Lone Star State, who asked what his response would be to families who are upset about the alerts that did not go off in time before the floods. 'Well, I think everybody did an incredible job under the circumstances,' Trump responded on Friday, adding, 'I just have admiration for the job that everybody did. There's just admiration. The eh – only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don't know who you are. But only a very evil person would ask a question like that.' Doggett criticized the president's response to the local CBS reporter. 'Well, only a president who believes he should have no accountability at all, certainly not from the courts, not from the Congress, not from an inspector general, and in this case, continuing to attack the press when reporters point out that the National Weather Service, despite its dedication, had some problems,' the Texas Democrat said on Saturday. 'FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] got its search and rescue teams there late and not as well trained because of the way things were run there at FEMA, one thing after another, at the federal level, contributed here, and this president refuses to accept any kind of accountability for what occurred,' Doggett added. Doggett was one of the three Democrats who expressed concerns over whether National Weather Service staff cuts delayed warning about the floods. CNN reported on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem recently introduced a new rule that any grant of contract over $100,000 would need her sign-off before funds could be dispatched. Noem slammed CNN during her appearance on Fox News, calling the reporting 'fake news' and that it is 'absolutely trash what they're doing by saying that.' Trump defended Noem during his interview with NBC News, saying he did not 'anything' about the rule. 'We were there — in fact, she was the first one I saw on television. She was there right from the beginning, and she would not have needed anything. She had the right to do it, but she was literally the first person I saw on television,' Trump said of Noem.
