Latest news with #RussianMercenaries
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Wagner to withdraw from Mali after 'completing mission'
Mali has been grappling with a militant Islamist insurgency for more than a decade. Following accusations that the government had been failing to deal with this insecurity, the military seized power a few years ago. French troops, which were originally deployed to help the civilian government, left the country in 2022. By then, the junta in charge of Mali had already begun working with the Russian mercenaries to combat the insurgents. There has been a resurgence in jihadist attacks on military bases in the Sahel state in recent weeks. Last Sunday, an al-Qaeda linked group said it had carried out a major attack on the town of Boulikessi and the army base there. More than 30 soldiers were killed, according to sources quoted by the news agency Reuters. Then on Monday, the same group - Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) - said it targeted the military in the historic city of Timbuktu, with residents reporting hearing gunfire and explosions. Insurgents also attacked an army post in the village of Mahou in the southeastern Sikasso region, killing five. Locals told the news agency AFP that soldiers withdrew from the Boulkessi base on after a new assault on Thursday led to multiple deaths. A military source said the departure was "strategic" and "at the request of the hierarchy", the news agency reported. The increased assaults in the Sahel region have raised concerns about the efficacy of Wagner in the region. Although the paramilitary group has announced its exit from Mali, Russian forces will still play an active role in the country's security landscape. Fighters from Africa Corps - a rival Russian mercenary force intended to absorb Wagner's activities on the continent - will remain in Mali. Russia has an increasing military, political and economic influence in West and Central Africa. Friday's announcement did not state whether Wagner would be leaving the Central African Republic, where its African headquarters are located.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Wagner Group to withdraw from Mali after 'completing mission'
The Wagner Group has announced it is withdrawing from Mali following what it called "the completion of its main mission" in the West African Russian mercenary group has been operating there since 2021, working with the military to challenge Islamist a message on its Telegram channel, Wagner said it had "fought terrorism side-by-side with the people of Mali", killing "thousands of militants and their commanders, who terrorised civilians for years".The withdrawal announcement comes the same day as reports that Malian soldiers had pulled out from a major base in the centre of the country, after it came under a second deadly attack in less than a week. Mali has been grappling with a militant Islamist insurgency for more than a decade. Following accusations that the government had been failing to deal with this insecurity, the military seized power a few years troops, which were originally deployed to help the civilian government, left the country in 2022. By then, the junta in charge of Mali had already begun working with the Russian mercenaries to combat the has been a resurgence in jihadist attacks on military bases in the Sahel state in recent Sunday, an al-Qaeda linked group said it had carried out a major attack on the town of Boulikessi and the army base than 30 soldiers were killed, according to sources quoted by the news agency on Monday, the same group - Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) - said it targeted the military in the historic city of Timbuktu, with residents reporting hearing gunfire and also attacked an army post in the village of Mahou in the southeastern Sikasso region, killing told the news agency AFP that soldiers withdrew from the Boulkessi base on after a new assault on Thursday led to multiple deaths.A military source said the departure was "strategic" and "at the request of the hierarchy", the news agency increased assaults in the Sahel region have raised concerns about the efficacy of Wagner in the the paramilitary group has announced its exit from Mali, Russian forces will still play an active role in the country's security landscape. Fighters from Africa Corps - a rival Russian mercenary force intended to absorb Wagner's activities on the continent - will remain in has an increasing military, political and economic influence in West and Central Africa. Friday's announcement did not state whether Wagner would be leaving the Central African Republic, where its African headquarters are located. You may also be interested in: Wagner in Africa: How the Russian mercenary group has rebrandedWas Ukraine's role in big Wagner defeat an own goal in Africa?Why Wagner is winning hearts in the Central African Republic Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Reuters
4 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Russia's Wagner mercenary group says it is leaving Mali after 'mission accomplished'
MOSCOW/DAKAR, June 6 (Reuters) - Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Friday it was leaving Mali after fighting Islamist militants for three-and-a-half years and returning home after its mission in the African country had been successfully completed. Wagner said via its channel in Telegram that it had brought all of the country's regional centres back under the control of the Malian military junta, pushing out Islamist forces and killing their commanders. Wagner did not say what its fighters would do once they were back in Russia. The announcement follows a spate of attacks in recent weeks that insurgents say killed more than 100 Malian soldiers as well as some mercenaries. Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an insurgent group in West Africa's Sahel region, claimed responsibility for the violence in recent days, including a bombing attack on Wednesday against Malian and Russian soldiers near Bamako. Wagner has been in Mali since the army, which seized power in two coups in 2020 and 2021, kicked out French and U.N. troops that had been involved in fighting the Islamist insurgents for a decade and replaced them with Russian mercenaries. Wagner's withdrawal from Mali does not mean that the West African country will be without Russian fighters though. The Africa Corps is still in Mali. The Corps was created with the support of the Russian Defence Ministry after Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and commander Dmitry Utkin led a failed military mutiny against the Russian army leadership and then left Russia for Belarus with other mercenaries. Russia has been seeking to end Wagner's deployment to Mali to replace them with the Africa Corps, Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme at Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation told Reuters. "The takeover of the Africa Corps means that the Russian military engagement in Mali will continue, but the focus might change more to training and providing equipment and less actual fighting jihadists," Laessing said. The Africa Corps is "about 70-80%" made up of former Wagner mercenaries, according to several Telegram chats used by Russian mercenaries seen by Reuters. The Malian defence ministry did not immediately respond to request for a comment.
CTV News
7 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Extremists kill dozens of soldiers at a Mali military base, sources say
BAMAKO, Mali — Extremists have killed dozens of soldiers in an attack on a military base in Mali, civil society and military sources said Tuesday, in the latest militant violence in West Africa's restive Sahel region. The attack on Sunday on the base in Boulkessi, near the border with Burkina Faso, killed at least 60 soldiers and wounded 40 more, a civil society activist in the area told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. The al-Qaida-linked JNIM group claimed responsibility. A military source told the AP there were around 280 soldiers in the base, and 'all of those who didn't die were taken prisoner by the terrorists.' The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Mali's army acknowledged the attack in a statement Monday, adding that soldiers had fought 'to their last breath.' It did not provide an exact death toll. Mali, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, has battled an insurgency by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, they have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for security assistance. In a separate attack on Monday, JNIM claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on a military airport, a military base and army checkpoints in the northern town of Timbuktu. Mali's army said Monday on social media it repelled the attack and that 13 extremists had been killed. It did not say whether any soldiers were killed. A hospital employee in the town said one soldier died of his wounds and 10 other people were wounded. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Timbuktu residents said they heard heavy gunfire and saw armed men enter the town on motorcycles. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said the high level of coordination in the two attacks shows that JNIM had been planning them for a while. Attacks by extremists have been on the rise in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso in recent weeks. JNIM has established a strong presence in both. Baba Ahmed, The Associated Press
