BAMAKO (Reuters) -At least 21 people, including 11 children, were killed by drone strikes on Sunday on the town of Tinzaouaten in north Mali, near where the army suffered a heavy blow last month, Tuareg rebels said.
Mali had already carried out airstrikes on insurgent targets in and around Tinzaouaten shortly after Tuareg and Islamist fighters killed a large number of Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner mercenaries near the town in July.
The town, located near the Algerian border, came under drone attack again on Sunday, a spokesperson for a rebel coalition known as the Strategic Framework for the Defence of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA) said in a statement.
The strikes targeted a pharmacy and gatherings of people, causing a provisional death toll of 21 civilians, including 11 children and the pharmacy manager. Dozens more were injured and there was severe material damage.
The CSP-DPA blamed Mali’s army and Wagner mercenaries, and said neighbouring Burkina Faso operated the drone.
Mali’s army, Russia’s defence ministry and Burkina Faso’s military government did not respond to requests for comment.
The fighting near Tinzaouaten in late July could be Wagner’s heaviest defeat since it stepped in two years ago to help Mali’s junta fight insurgent groups.
Tuareg rebels said they killed at least 84 Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers. An al Qaeda affiliate said it had killed 50 Wagner mercenaries and 10 Malian soldiers.
Neither Mali nor Wagner have said how many troops they lost, although Wagner said it suffered heavy losses.
Both Tuareg separatists and jihadist insurgents liked to al Qaeda and Islamic State operate in north Mali.
The country has been grappling with jihadist insurgents since Islamist groups hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in 2012.
Frustrations over authorities’ failure to restore security contributed to coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger since 2020.
Juntas have subsequently cut ties with Western and regional allies, turning instead to Russia.
The separatists, meanwhile, signed a peace agreement with Mali’s government in 2015. But CSP-DPA pulled out of talks in 2022.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Additional reporting and writing by Sofia Christensen in Dakar, and by Filipp Lebedev in Moscow; Editing by Giles Elgood and Hugh Lawson)
