A group of Wagner militants and junta troops on a Chinese armored vehicle is defeated in Mali

28 July, 2024 Captured Chinese VP11 armored vehicle in Mali. Photo credits: X/apmazawad A group of Wagner militants and junta troops were defeated in the north-east of Mali using Chinese armored vehicles and automotive equipment.

Details of the events were published by Mohamed Larbi Zitout on his page on X (ex-Twitter). He is a former Algerian politician, human rights activist, and diplomat. Fighting has been taking place in northern Mali in the self-proclaimed Azawad between the group and the CSP-DPA group for several days.

"The Azawad separatists (armed groups fighting for autonomy/independence, consisting of Arabs, Taureg, and Fulani tribes) fought off attacks by the Malian army (mostly Bambara), supported by Wagner mercenaries, for several villages near the Algerian border," Zitut wrote. One of the biggest battles took place today in In Azzraf, near the Algerian city of Tin Zawatin.

Chinese armored vehicle VP11 destroyed in Mali Photo credits: X/oumarbluesow

A group of Wagner militants and junta troops moved in Chinese armored vehicles and off-roaders with the support of attack helicopters.

This refers to a Chinese-made VP11 mine-resistant armored vehicle, the transfer of which to Mali we reported in June 2023. The CSP-DPA captured it in good condition.

Chinese MRAP VP11 from Norinco. Photo from open sources

The losses of the Malian army group and Wagner mercenaries are high, and in addition to personnel, a number of military vehicles and weapons were destroyed or captured.

Destroyed armored vehicle in Mali.

Freeze frame from X/SimNasr video

KamAZ truck among a destroyed convoy. Freeze frame from X/SimNasr video

Former politician, human rights activist, and diplomat Mohamed Larbi Zitout notes that the CSP-DPA group's success is possible after they recently received much-needed anti-aircraft weapons, light artillery, and ammunition. The exact source of the weapons is unknown, but Malian media have accused neighboring Algeria.

FPV kamikaze drone of the mercenary in Mali.

Freeze frame from X/Walid_Leberbere video

In May 2021, a new coup d'etat took place in the Republic of Mali in Africa, when the military arrested interim President Ba N'Dau and Prime Minister Moktar Wan and transported them to the Katia army military base near the capital Bamako. Since then, the country's foreign policy has changed, and instead of international assistance led by France, they rely on Russia. In particular, in the same year, Russia recognized Mali's request to send Russian mercenaries.

Since then, Russian mercenaries, in addition to training the local military, have been directly involved in hostilities against local groups.

Due to the scenes of cruelty, we do not publish videos with bodies in the material, only links to the social media X (ex-Twitter) where you can make sure that there are Russians among the dead.

The cross on the body in the video, in particular, is a testament to this.