{"id":272304,"date":"2024-07-30T09:30:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T01:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=272304"},"modified":"2024-07-30T09:30:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T01:30:52","slug":"wagner-commander-killed-in-sandstorm-ambush-in-mali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=272304","title":{"rendered":"Wagner commander killed in sandstorm ambush in Mali"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u00a0BAMAKO, July 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — <\/strong>A commander in a Russian mercenary group has been killed in Mali following an attack by rebel fighters during a sandstorm, the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military regime in the West African state had turned to the Wagner group in 2021, seeking support in fighting jihadist and separatist forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday the Russian outfit – which has now morphed into a group named Africa Corps – said it had joined Mali’s military in “fierce battles” against separatist rebels and jihadist militants last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the separatists launched a major attack, killing an estimated 20 to 50 mercenaries, sources close to Africa Corps said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an official statement posted to Telegram, the Russian mercenary group did not specify how many of their troops had died, but they confirmed suffering “losses”. This included a commander, Sergei Shevchenko, who was killed in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mercenaries initially “destroyed most of the Islamists and put the rest to flight”, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“However, [an] ensuing sandstorm allowed the radicals to regroup and increase their numbers to 1,000 people,” it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), a separatist group dominated by the Tuareg ethnic group, claimed responsibility for the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On Saturday, our forces dealt a decisive blow to the enemy columns,” a CSP-PSD’s spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prisoners were taken and “a large amount of equipment and weapons were damaged or captured”, the spokesman added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rebel group has shared video footage which shows numerous white men in military fatigues lying motionless on a sandy plain. Another shows a group of mostly black men wearing blindfolds with their hands tied behind their backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, has also claimed sole responsibility for the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Islamist militants said they killed 50 Russian mercenaries in a “complex ambush”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new junta which seized power in a coup in 2021 severed Mali’s long-running alliance with former colonial power France in favour of Russia in a bid to quell the insurgencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Wagner mercenary group was dismantled after a mutiny by its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last year, leading to its replacement in West Africa by Africa Corps. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0BAMAKO, July 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A commander in a Russian mercenary group has been killed in Mali following an attack by rebel fighters during a sandstorm, the group said. The military regime in the West African state had turned to the Wagner group in 2021, seeking support in fighting jihadist and separatist forces. On Monday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":272305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272304"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=272304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272306,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272304\/revisions\/272306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/272305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=272304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=272304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=272304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}