(Bloomberg) -- Mali’s army, which is backed by Russian mercenaries, recaptured a northern town that’s been the stronghold of separatist rebels for the past decade.

Security forces seized control of Kidal after weeks of assault on the desert city, military leader Assimi Goita said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “A raid was carried out a few days ago toward Kidal and heavy losses were inflicted on our enemies,” he said.

A spokesman for a rebel coalition that operates in the area couldn’t immediately be reached by phone for comment. The military leadership in neighboring Burkina Faso, which is facing an Islamist insurgency, welcomed “the liberation of Kidal after several years under the yoke of terrorists,” according to a statement.

Malian soldiers, aided by fighters from the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, have been fighting ethnic Tuareg rebels for weeks in an effort to retake Kidal. The town, a former military post during the French colonial era, has served as a springboard for various separatist movements since the country gained independence in 1960.

The army, which launched its offensive in August in breach of a peace accord signed in Algiers between the government and the militants in 2015, said it conducted “air strikes” against “terrorist targets.”

Many civilians fled Kidal, 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) northeast of the capital, Bamako, as the army advanced.

“Our mission, which consists of retaking and securing the integrity of our territory in its entirety, is not yet fully achieved,” Goita said.

The military officer, who came to power in a 2021 coup, has promised to improve security that has deteriorated since an Islamist insurgency started in 2012. He’s criticized the presence of a 13,000-strong United Nations mission and a French counter-insurgency force for not doing enough to shield the country from terror attacks.

French forces withdrew from Mali last year, while the UN Security Council voted in June to withdraw its peacekeeping force, leaving the poorly equipped West African nation’s army and the smaller force of Russian mercenaries to contend with militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

Conflict and insurgent attacks have claimed about 12,000 lives in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — all military-run countries — in the first 10 months of this year, according to Jose Luengo-Cabrera, a crisis risk specialist with the UN Development Program. Deaths from violent incidents in Mali in 2023 are about two-thirds of the total number of casualties during the previous year, he said.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.