Heavy casualties have been reported in clashes between Malian forces and Tuareg rebels near the northern town of Tessalit in the past two days, Malian military sources said on Thursday.
The sources said a Malian army convoy, backed by helicopter gunships, was trying to break through rebel positions and take supplies and reinforcements to a besieged military base about 7km outside Tessalit when it came under attack.
“What can be said is that there have been more than 100 dead [on the rebel side] and 50 were taken as prisoners,” one of the sources, a senior military officer at the Malian defense ministry, said on condition of anonymity.
The officer said more than 30 rebel vehicles were destroyed, while the army, which was using mainly helicopters in the battle, suffered two losses.
Dozens have been reported killed and thousands of civilians forced from their homes since the Tuareg rebels, who say they are fighting to create an independent north, boosted by ethnic allies who returned to Mali after fighting for former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, started attacking towns and army bases last month.
Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, a spokesman for the rebels, confirmed that fierce battles had taken place near Tessalit, but denied the rebels had suffered any losses.
“There was violent clashes near Tessalit as a convoy of the Malian army was trying to reach Tessalit from Kidal, but it was intercepted by our men. They tried again through another route, but we stopped them,” Acharatoumane said.
“So effectively, there was some violent fighting, but we did not -record any deaths, just about three wounded,” he said by telephone from Europe.
Another military source at the Malian Ministry of Defense said the death toll was more than 100 on the rebel side, with another 100 taken prisoner, while 30 rebel vehicles had been destroyed.
It has so far been difficult to independently verify the casualty figures.
Mali was seeking the backing of regional leaders from the Economic Community of West African States when they began a meeting in Nigeria on Thursday, with the situation in northern Mali one of the items on their agenda, a diplomatic source said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in