Wagner Mercenaries Killed in Mali Desert Battle

Among the Wagner mercenaries presumed dead in a desert battle with Tuareg rebels in Mali in late July 2024 were Russian war veterans who had survived tours in Ukraine, Libya and Syria, according to a review of social media data and footage from the battle.

The losses expose the dangers faced by Russian soldiers and mercenary forces working for military juntas that are struggling to contain separatists and powerful offshoots of Islamic State and Al Qaeda across the arid Sahel region in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The Mali defeat raises doubts about Moscow's ability to do better than the Western forces recently expelled by the juntas, said six officials and experts who work in the region.

Grisly footage of dead fighters has now circulated online, and angry relatives say the bodies of their husbands and sons have been abandoned in the desert, leaving them without answers.

Footage from the battle near Tinzaouaten, a town on the Algerian border, shows Tuareg rebel alliance (CMA) fighters examining captured vehicles and walking through debris left behind by Russian mercenaries.

A video showing Wagner mercenaries patrolling with Malian Armed Forces soldiers several days before geolocated to 50 km east of Tinzaparin based on matching buildings and trees to satellite imagery.

The Russian-speaking men wore fatigues consistent with those used by Wagner fighters, and an official Wagner Telegram channel confirmed its forces' presence in the region in July 2024.

Several had survived the siege of Bakhmut in Ukraine, which Wagner's late founder Yevgeny Prigozhin called a "meat grinder". Others had served in Libya, Syria and elsewhere. Several were former Russian soldiers, at least one of whom had retired after a full-length army career.

The Russian Defence Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Wagner, now known formally as Afrika Korps, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.