Tuareg fighters claim Kidal after coordinated attacks rattle Mali, Russia-backed forces withdraw

Tuareg fighters said they had taken Kidal after a weekend of coordinated attacks that rattled Mali from the capital to the far north, while Russia’s Africa Corps confirmed its forces had withdrawn from the Tuareg stronghold after fierce fighting. The retreat from the town near the Algerian border marked a sharp setback for Mali’s military rulers and for the Russian security network they have leaned on since Wagner-backed forces recaptured Kidal in November 2023 after more than a decade of rebel control.

Gunfire and explosions were reported on April 25 and 26 in Bamako, around the Kati military base outside the capital, and in northern and central areas including Gao and Sévaré. Reuters described the offensive as one of the largest coordinated assaults in Mali in recent years. The Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front said it had seized Kidal, while Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, the al-Qaeda-linked militant group known as JNIM, said it had launched the attacks in coordination with Tuareg rebels.

Africa Corps, a paramilitary force controlled by Russia’s Defence Ministry and the successor to Wagner’s role in Mali, confirmed on Monday that its fighters had pulled out of Kidal after intense combat. Tuareg rebels said the withdrawal followed an agreement that allowed Russian-backed forces to leave, underscoring how fragile the government’s hold on the north has become.

The assaults also exposed the vulnerability of Mali’s junta at the highest level. Defence Minister Sadio Camara was reported killed in an attack on his residence during the coordinated violence, a blow that deepened the crisis for the authorities in Bamako. The loss of a senior minister during the attacks added to the impression of a state under pressure on multiple fronts at once.

The United Nations said clashes were continuing and called for a coordinated international response, reflecting concern that the violence could spread further if Mali’s separatist insurgency, Islamist militancy and military setbacks continue to converge. For Russia, the loss of Kidal is more than a battlefield retreat: it weakens a strategy built on projecting force through local allies while promising stability against insurgents. For Mali, it raises fresh questions about whether the junta can control over territory that Wagner once helped it retake, or whether the country’s north is sliding back into the hands of armed challengers.