(Bloomberg) -- More than two dozen mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group and Malian soldiers were killed last week while fighting rebels in northern Mali, according to a pro-Kremlin news source, suffering what’s likely the group’s biggest death toll since it deployed to the West African country in 2021.
Wagner forces and Malian army troops deployed last week on the northeastern border with Algeria waged “fierce battles” with the insurgents, the mercenary group said in a statement on its Telegram channel, without providing the number of casualties. The group lost more than 25 fighters, according to the pro-Kremlin African Initiative information portal.
The military contractor has for years acted as the key proxy in the Russian government’s efforts to bolster its influence in Africa, where it’s built strong ties to military-run governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. It was supposed to have come under Kremlin control following the death of founder Yevgeny Prigozhin last year, but continues to operate semi-independently in some parts of the continent.
The rebel group, the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development, said in a statement Saturday that it had inflicted dozens of casualties and seized armored vehicles, trucks and tankers. Mali’s army confirmed in a statement that its forces had suffered “human and material losses.”
Russia’s defense ministry-run Africa Corps is now in talks with the rebels to pay for the release of captured Wagner fighters, African Initiative said. The new Russian armed force is planning to take over the remaining Wagner operations in the Sahel, it said.
--With assistance from Diakaridia Dembele.
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