Mali: au moins 50 militaires et cinq mercenaires russes tués dans une attaque jihadiste jeudi (sources sécuritaires)
At least 50 Malian soldiers and five Russian paramilitaries from Africa Corps were killed Thursday in a large-scale jihadist attack on the Dioura military camp (central Mali), according to security and local sources contacted by AFP on Monday.
This attack, claimed on Thursday by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, is one of the deadliest suffered by the Malian army since the beginning of the conflict that has ravaged the West African country for about fifteen years.
Several sources contacted by AFP report an even higher death toll, with between 60 and 80 soldiers killed. According to these sources, several dozen Malian soldiers have also been taken prisoner.
"The toll is high. Not to mention the wounded, I can say that we regret the death of more than 50 of our personnel, including five members of Africa Corps," an officer present at the scene of operations told AFP.
Another security source in Mopti (central Mali) reported that "more than 60 soldiers were killed in the attack, in addition to about sixty other prisoners".
For his part, a local elected official contacted by AFP mentioned "at least 80 soldiers killed and numerous prisoners".
"The jihadists attacked the Dioura camp and returned the next day (...) the army did not send reinforcements to the area," the source added.
Since 2012, Mali has faced a deep security crisis, fueled in particular by violence from jihadist groups, their Tuareg separatist allies of the Azawad Liberation Front (ALF) and community criminal groups.
The Sahelian country, ruled by a junta, has moved closer to Russia, whose paramilitaries from the Africa Corps group are helping it in its anti-jihadist fight.
The country has been plunged into an even more critical security situation since the end of April 2026. At that time, JNIM jihadists, allied with the FLA rebellion, launched a series of coordinated attacks against strategic positions of the junta and the army in several cities, including those on the outskirts of Bamako, the capital. These attacks notably claimed the life of the Minister of Defense.
In a statement released Sunday regarding the situation in Dioura, the Malian army announced "air and ground operations undertaken against the attackers of Dioura," reporting the "neutralization," southwest of the city, of "several terrorist elements on motorcycles who were trying to hide under vegetation cover."
On July 18, at least 50 other soldiers had already been killed in Mali. The coalition of Tuareg separatists and jihadists had ambushed an army convoy leaving the strategic town of Anéfis, in the north of the country, to go to the major city of Gao.
AFP
Commentaires (13)
Beaucoup d'affabulations !!
Bien sûr qu'il y a les trolls, dans les commentaires. Mais les trolls n'y croient pas, ils font juste leur boulot.
L'information était la publication par JA des résultats de son sondage dans les pays d'Afrique francophone voisins des pays de l'AES (Mauritanie, Sénégal, Guinée, Tchad, Bénin, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, etc). Le sondage portait sur l'appréciation que les habitants de ces pays ont des pays de l'AES. Résultat du sondage: Plébiscite total pour les pays de l'AES. En termes choquants: "les habitants des pays démocratiques africains admirent les dictatures des l'AES ". C'est entre 70 et 80% d'opinions favorables aux pouvoirs militaires de l'AES. Même en Côte d'Ivoire de Ouattara, le plus féroce ennemi des pays de l'AES, 66% des ivoiriens les admirent.
Face aux constats du sondage, les analystes de RFI et de JA ont failli verser des larmes à l'antenne. "On ne comprend pas ", disent-ils. "Les habitants de l'AES n'ont ni liberté, ni sécurité, ce sont des informations documentées et abondamment relayées (par AFP et JA, s'entend) par des médias crédibles, lus et entendus dans ses pays, et malgré tout ils aimeraient vivre comme dans les pays de l'AES ".
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