The Malian army on Monday said it suffered a “large number” of deaths during fighting in the north last week, in a rare admission after rebels claimed to have inflicted major losses.
A unit “was encircled by the coalition of terrorist forces” and “fierce fighting began before the arrival of reinforcements,” the army said in a statement read out on national television.
“The exemplary bravery and determination of our soldiers could not avoid a large number of losses in human lives and equipment,” it added.
The armed forces were analyzing the events “to draw all the necessary lessons and readapt their security and stabilization strategy.”
The CSP-DPA alliance, a mainly Tuareg separatist coalition, claimed a major victory over the army and its Russian allies at the weekend following three days of intense combat in Tinzaouatene district near the Algerian border.
No overall toll was available for the army and its Russian allies, but a separatist spokesman shared videos with AFP showing several bodies lying on the ground believed to be from their side.
The Al-Qaeda-linked group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) also claimed they had attacked a Malian army convoy and allies from the Russian mercenary group Wagner south of Tinzaouatene.
JNIM said it killed 50 Russians and 10 Malians, although AFP could not verify the claims.
The Wagner group on Monday admitted severe losses during battles with separatist forces in northeastern Mali last week.
The West African nation’s military leaders who seized power in a 2020 coup have made it a priority to retake all of the country from separatists and jihadist forces linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Violence by community self-defense and criminal organizations has also rocked Mali since 2012.
The army rarely communicates its losses and pressure from the ruling junta along with armed groups has silenced most independent sources of information in the areas of fighting.