Tuareg separatists say they ‘obliterated’ enemy columns and seized a large amount of equipment and weapons.

A mainly Tuareg separatist coalition has claimed a major victory over Mali’s army and its Russian allies following three days of intense fighting in a district on the Algerian border.

“Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday,” said a statement by Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD) alliance on Sunday.

“A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged”, and prisoners were taken, the statement said, adding that seven rebels were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting in the Tinzaouatene district.

Mali’s military rulers, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, took power in 2020 and turned to Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries for security assistance, after expelling French forces in 2022.

The Tuareg are an ethnic group who have been fighting for independence since 2012.

Large-scale fighting broke out on Thursday between the West African nation’s army and the separatists in Tinzaouatene after the army announced it had retaken control of several districts.

Tinzaouatene is almost entirely surrounded by Algerian territory and has been the scene of other battles between separatist forces and the army over the past decade.

The CSP-PSD also said it damaged a helicopter, which crashed in Kidal, a rebel stronghold. Separatist groups lost control of several districts in 2023 after an offensive that saw forces from the military government take Kidal.

The Malian army said in statements that two soldiers had been killed and 10 injured. One of its helicopters crashed in Kidal on Friday while on a routine mission, but no one was killed, it said.

Adama Gaye, a journalist, author and former director of the Economic Community of West African States, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Tuareg forces could be receiving outside help, including from the French military and regional armed groups with “allegiance to al-Qaeda”.

Wagner fighters reportedly involved

In some of the videos shared by the rebels with the AFP news agency, white soldiers were visible among the prisoners, the agency said in a report on Sunday.

A local official and a former worker with the United Nations mission in Kidal told AFP the Malian army had retreated with at least 15 fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group killed or arrested.

Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist movement, claimed that “dozens” of Wagner fighters and soldiers had been killed or taken prisoner.

Several Russian military bloggers reported that at least 20 from the Wagner Group were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border.

“Employees of the Wagner PMC [Group], who were moving in a convoy with government troops, were killed in Mali … Some were captured,” said a prominent Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, who uses the name War Gonzo.

The Baza Telegram news channel, which has links to Russia’s security structures, reported that at least 20 Wagner fighters have been killed.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the blogger’s or the AFP’s reports.

Mali has said Russian forces are not Wagner mercenaries, but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Russia.

Baza’s report said on Sunday that Wagner fighters have been in Mali since at least 2021.

Meanwhile, there have been several accusations of rights abuses of the civilian population by the Malian army and Wagner forces. Malian authorities deny the allegations.

Violence by rebels linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), as well as community self-defence and criminal organisations, has also rocked Mali since 2012.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies