Mali attack: Army and Russian mercenaries withdraw after attacks by separatists and Islamists

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:02]Tuare rebels celebrating their takeover of the northern Malian town of Kdal.

[00:00:08]They've teamed up with jihadis from an al-Qaeda affiliate known as Jim.

[00:00:15]>> After a weekend of coordinated attacks on towns across the country, they're making gains.

[00:00:23]The Russian Africa Corps, previously known as the Vagna Group, has pulled back. Their job was to help Malian government forces hold off the jihadis and the Tuare separatists. But like the French and others before, they failed.

[00:00:40]As the Malian army has reluctant.

[00:00:47]Specifically in the Kadal region, we are in a process of readapting our forces by a redeployment to the locality of Anifi.

[00:00:54]So we are maintaining our positions. We are remaining in the Kadal region.

[00:00:58]>> Today Russian forces reportedly withdrew from Kedal and Tesset while Gao Se and the capital Bamako remain in government hands. Mali, Nishair and Burkina Faso all have Russianbacked military regimes while jihadis are active across the Sahel region.

[00:01:21]On Saturday, J&M fighters on motorbikes attacked Katy near Bamako and killed the defense minister. Since then, nothing has been seen nor heard from President Asimi Goa who came to power in a coup in 2021.

[00:01:38]Today, his Russian backers, the Africa Corps, released footage that they say shows them defending a position in the capital on Saturday, but they are believed to have negotiated their retreat from the northern towns.

[00:01:53]>> The weekend offensive has really moved the needle on Jim's military and political uh demands. Um it exposed Mali's intelligence failures uh and the efficacy of its partnership with Russia and and um of course illuminated the formidable military capacity of the uh jihadist group JM and its Tuare uh allies. Um and I think it's also raised questions about the logic and really um uh the efficacy of a purely military solution to the Sahel dilemma.

[00:02:27]In 2013, Malians celebrated as their army, backed by the French, drove jihadis out of the northern towns they had seized, including Gao and Timbuktu.

[00:02:39]But the problems of poverty, government corruption, and rising radicalism, were not solved by the French, the UN, the Russians, nor successive military coups.

[00:02:51]>> The weekend's fighting has left an unknown number of Malian soldiers dead.

[00:02:56]while others have been taken prisoner.

[00:02:59]Here, a Tuare fighter questions soldiers captured in Kali.

[00:03:06]This time, no outside power is coming to the attempted rescue. Some reports say the jihadis have moderated their approach and are more like the new authorities in Syria than the Taliban.

[00:03:19]Across the deserts of northern Mali, fighters are readying for further attacks.