Fighting Breaks Out as Mali Army Closes on Tuareg Rebel Town

An aerial view of the rebel-held city of Kidal, where Mali's army is reported to be closing in. SOULEYMANE AG ANARA / AFP/File
An aerial view of the rebel-held city of Kidal, where Mali's army is reported to be closing in. SOULEYMANE AG ANARA / AFP/File
TT

Fighting Breaks Out as Mali Army Closes on Tuareg Rebel Town

An aerial view of the rebel-held city of Kidal, where Mali's army is reported to be closing in. SOULEYMANE AG ANARA / AFP/File
An aerial view of the rebel-held city of Kidal, where Mali's army is reported to be closing in. SOULEYMANE AG ANARA / AFP/File

Mali's army drove closer on Saturday to the town of Kidal clashing with Tuareg separatist and rebel groups in what could signal the start of fighting for the strategically important northern crossroads.

Since seizing power in a coup in 2020 the African country's military rulers have made a priority of re-establishing sovereignty over all regions and Kidal could become a key battleground, AFP said.

Military, political and rebel sources all reported the clashes.

But details such as a casualty toll or tactics involved could not be confirmed independently in the remote region.

The rebels in Kidal cut telephone links on Friday in anticipation of an army offensive following several days of airstrikes.

The Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), an alliance of predominantly Tuareg armed groups said it had been involved in "vigorous combat" against a convoy of army soldiers and mercenaries from Russia's Wagner group.

The CSP post on social media said "considerable losses" had been inflicted on the convoy which had retreated.

However, the army said on social media networks that it had "broken the defensive line" set up by the rebels near Kidal, and assured that it was continuing its advance, which "will be carried out successfully".

Earlier, an army officer told AFP: "We are a few dozen kilometers (miles) from Kidal.

"We are continuing our progress to secure the whole territory," he said, on condition of anonymity.

Two local elected representatives, also speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the topic, said there was fighting near Kidal.

'A lot of shooting'
"Fighting has started -- there's a lot of shooting," one said, adding that large numbers of Wagner fighters, which the ruling junta called in two years ago, were present.
Another local official said "civilians are fleeing the city. We have to expect a lengthy conflict".

Some 25,000 people live in the Kidal desert area, a key site on the road to Algeria and a historic hotbed of insurrection.

The army had Thursday announced the start of what it termed "strategic movements aimed at securing and eradicating all terrorist threats in the Kidal region".

A large military convoy stationed since early October at Anefis, some 110 kilometers to the south, set off towards Kidal.

Tuareg rebels took up arms again in August and the population have since braced for a confrontation.

The Tuaregs previously launched an insurgency in 2012, inflicting humiliating defeats on the army before agreeing to a ceasefire in 2014 and a peace deal in 2015.

The uprising in 2012 coincided with insurgencies by radical Islamist groups who have never stopped fighting Bamako, plunging Mali into a political, security and humanitarian crisis that has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

The withdrawal of a UN peacekeeping mission since the army took power has added to instability.

One officer spoke Saturday of fighting near a Kidal camp which the UN force recently vacated.



Russian War Bloggers Report New Ukrainian Attack in Kursk Region

People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
TT

Russian War Bloggers Report New Ukrainian Attack in Kursk Region

People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
People wait at a bus stop next to a reinforced concrete bomb shelter installed in a street in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kursk, Russia August 28, 2024. The sign on the construction reads: "Shelter". REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Ukrainian forces have launched a major new attack in Russia's western Kursk region, Russian military bloggers reported on Sunday.
Ukrainian troops broke across the border in a surprise incursion on Aug. 6, and for the past five months have resisted Russian attempts to expel them.
Reports from the Russian bloggers, who support Moscow's war in Ukraine but have often reported critically on failings and setbacks, indicated that the latest Ukrainian assault had put Russian forces on the defensive.
"Despite strong pressure from the enemy, our units are heroically holding the line," the Operativnye Svodki (Operational Reports) channel said.
It said artillery and small-arms battles were taking place, and Ukraine was using Western-armored vehicles to bring in large numbers of infantry.
The reports, which Reuters could not independently verify, said fighting was concentrated near the town of Bolshoye Soldatskoye.
But one influential blogger, Yuri Podolyak, said this was most likely a Ukrainian distraction manoeuvre, possibly to prepare a strike on Glushkovo, further west. He recommended civilians there and in another town, Korenevo, to evacuate.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia's ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow's forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses.
"In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, in Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroops," Zelenskiy said. "This is significant."
The president provided no specific details. A battalion can vary in size but is generally made up of several hundred troops.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in response to a question at his marathon annual phone-in last month that Russia would definitely drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk but declined to set a date for when this would happen.
Russia's defense ministry did not mention Kursk in its latest battlefield update on Sunday.
BARGAINING CHIP
Ukraine's unexpected success in biting off a slice of Russian territory and holding on to it since last August could provide it with an important bargaining chip as both sides gear up for possible peace talks this year.
Both have been striving to improve their battlefield positions before US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20. Trump has repeatedly said he will bring a quick end to the war, but without saying how.
By committing some of its most effective units to the Kursk offensive, Ukraine has, however, weakened the defense of its own eastern regions where Russian forces have advanced since August at their most rapid pace since 2022.
The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that the "hottest" front was near Pokrovsk, an important road and rail hub towards which Russia has been pressing for months.
On Sunday, Ukraine's air defenses shot down 61 out of 103 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack, the air force said. Russia said it had destroyed five Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.