Mali: reprise des combats à Kidal entre rebelles touareg alliés aux jihadistes contre l'armée appuyée par des Russes
Fighting resumed on Sunday in the northern Malian city of Kidal between the Tuareg rebellion, backed by Al-Qaeda jihadists, and the Malian army, supported by Russian mercenaries, AFP learned from the Tuareg rebellion and a local elected official.
The FLA, a separatist group claiming the territory of Azawad in northern Mali, asserted on Saturday that it controlled Kidal after fighting in the city, one of those targeted by coordinated attacks that this Tuareg rebellion carried out with the jihadists of JNIM.
"Fighting resumed in Kidal this (Sunday) morning. We want to dislodge the last Russian fighters who have taken refuge in a camp," a spokesman for the Tuareg rebels, Mohamed Ramdane, told AFP.
The information was confirmed by a local official. "Today, Sunday, fighting resumed in Kidal between the Malian army, the Ruses, and the (Tuareg) rebels. Residents heard gunfire. There is shooting," this official, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, told AFP.
The city of Kidal, a stronghold of the Tuareg rebellion, was retaken in November 2023 by the Malian army, supported by fighters from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, ending more than a decade of rebel control. The FLA also claims to have seized control of several positions in the Gao region (north).
Mali has been plagued by conflict and jihadist violence for more than a decade, but since the junta seized power in 2020, Saturday's attacks by jihadists and the Tuareg rebellion of the Azawad Liberation Front (ALF) are unprecedented.
From dawn, fighting broke out between the army and the attackers and continued intensely on Saturday afternoon on the outskirts of Bamako and in several cities across the country, including Kidal, Gao and Sévaré.
They caused 16 civilian and military injuries and "limited material damage", the government said in a statement Saturday evening, adding that "the situation is totally under control in all the attacked localities".
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