Wagner Leader Appeals to Putin after Mali Ambush Leaves 80 Dead

A Wagner Group commander has appealed to Russia’s defense ministry for help after at least 80 mercenaries and Malian government troops were killed during an ambush by Tuareg rebels, it has been reported.

Social media footage purportedly showed Wagner and Malian personnel killed on the outskirts of Tinzawaten village near Mali’s border with Algeria in the north of the former French colony. More than a dozen were kidnapped during the attack.

The Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD) rebel movement, which opposes the government in Bamako, said that it had “routed the entire column of Malian army and Russian mercenaries.”

A West Africa expert has told Newsweek, that in response, Mali’s government could conduct a large raid in the coming days.

Read more: Newsweek