At least 50 Malian soldiers have been killed after their convoy was ambushed by a coalition of Tuareg separatist fighters and jihadists while leaving the strategic northern town of Anefis, according to local officials and military sources.
The attack, which occurred on Saturday, is being described as one of the deadliest assaults on the Malian military in recent years.
The convoy had departed Anefis after weeks of intense fighting in the area, where government forces, Tuareg separatists and Islamist militants have been battling for control of the strategic town.
Earlier this month, fighters from the Tuareg separatist Front for the Liberation of Azawad (FLA), working alongside the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), briefly seized Anefis and surrounded a military base occupied by the Malian army and Russian paramilitary personnel from Africa Corps.
Both JNIM and the FLA have claimed responsibility for Saturday’s ambush.
A local elected official close to Mali’s ruling military government told AFP that the attack inflicted devastating losses on government forces.
“The provisional toll of the attack is extremely heavy — more than 50 soldiers killed and at least 24 prisoners,” the official said.
Speaking anonymously, the official described the incident as the most severe military setback suffered by the Malian army in years.
A source within the Malian military also confirmed the heavy casualties, revealing that some of the soldiers were reportedly executed after the convoy was overwhelmed.
“Some of our men were simply executed,” the military source said.
He added that authorities had launched an investigation to determine how the convoy became so vulnerable during the operation.
“We are trying to see what could really have made our men so vulnerable,” he stated.
According to multiple sources, Russian paramilitary personnel attached to Africa Corps escaped the attack because they had already reached Gao, the intended destination of the convoy, before the ambush occurred.
A community leader from the Gao region confirmed that the casualties were limited to Malian security personnel and allied local militias.
“No Russians were killed. The dead are from the army and the state-backed militias,” the community leader said.
Although the Malian army acknowledged the attack in a statement issued on Saturday, it did not disclose the number of casualties.
Military authorities simply confirmed that the convoy had “fallen into an ambush laid by terrorist armed groups.”
The attack underscores the continuing security challenges confronting Mali despite repeated military offensives against armed groups operating across the country.
Mali has remained under military rule since successive coups in 2020 and 2021, with the junta pledging to restore security and eliminate insurgent groups.
However, large parts of northern and central Mali continue to experience persistent violence involving jihadist organisations, separatist movements and ethnic militias.
The latest attack is expected to intensify concerns over the security situation in the Sahel region, where armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State continue to launch deadly attacks despite ongoing military operations by regional governments and their allies.
