Mali: Insurgents ambush army convoy, source says more than 50 killed

Militants linked to al Qaeda and a Tuareg-led separatist group ambushed a Malian military convoy over the weekend, with a source close to the rebels saying more than 50 soldiers and allied Russian fighters were killed and others taken hostage.

The incident occurred on Saturday in the Tabrichat area between the northern town of Anefis and the city of Gao, as the convoy — made up of Malian troops and Russia’s Africa Corps — was tralvelling from Anefis toward Gao.

The attack marked the latest in an escalating series of assaults by the two groups, which joined forces in April for coordinated nationwide strikes that killed Mali’s defence minister and hit the airport in Bamako, and which launched a fresh wave of attacks this month aimed at seizing Anefis.

The al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and the separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) both separately claimed responsibility for the ambush, describing “great human losses” and “serious material damage” on the Malian army’s side.

An FLA spokesperson said soldiers were killed and others captured alive, with armoured vehicles destroyed or seized.

Mali’s army confirmed the attack and said it launched counterstrikes, targeting three insurgent positions and helping the convoy break free to continue its route; military sources said the retaliatory airstrikes killed at least 20 insurgents.

The casualty figures reported by rebel-linked sources have not been independently verified, and Mali’s army has not disclosed its own toll.

The ambush is the latest in a string of attacks on Malian security forces as JNIM and the FLA, despite pursuing different goals — one seeking extremist governance, the other an independent Azawad state — have deepened their coordination since merging operations in 2024.

It follows a similarly bloody clash earlier this month, when the army said it retook Anefis after fighting that left roughly 30 soldiers dead and 60 wounded, underscoring the intensifying instability facing Mali’s military junta in the north.