Tuareg rebels in Mali say they shot down a military helicopter linked to Russia’s Africa Corps, with videos circulating on social media showing the aircraft falling in the desert and armed men standing near a burning fuselage, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
The Russian pro-war Telegram channel Afrikar also reported the loss of a helicopter, writing that a Malian army convoy that left Gao on the evening of July 4 to reinforce troops near the village of Anefis was ambushed in the area of nearby Tabrichat. The channel claimed government forces lost about 10 pieces of equipment and a Mi-24 attack helicopter, forcing the units to halt the operation and return to Gao to regroup. However, Afrikar did not describe the helicopter as belonging to Russia’s Africa Corps.
Open source intelligence (OSINT) analyst OSINTWarfare wrote that fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) ambushed an Africa Corps convoy moving from Gao toward Anefis to reinforce the city’s defenses, and that a Mi-24 helicopter was shot down during the attack.
Turkish journalist Mahmut Bozarslan, meanwhile, claimed the incident took place near Tinzaouaten, close to the Algerian border. He said everyone on board was killed.
There has been no independent confirmation of the claims. Neither Malian authorities nor Russia have officially reported the loss of a helicopter, and the published footage does not make it possible to reliably establish who the aircraft belonged to or the circumstances of the crash.
The report of the downed helicopter came amid large-scale attacks on Malian army and pro-government positions. Media reports from July 5 said attacks were carried out in several parts of the country, hitting Anefis, Aguelhok, and Gao in the north, and Sevare in central Mali.
Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadan, a representative of the Tuareg Azawad Liberation Front, said the movement’s fighters entered Anefis in the Kidal Region. Mali’s army, for its part, said it had repelled the attacks and brought the situation under control. The military claimed 20 terrorists were killed in Sevare and six more in Gao. It also reported that one pro-government fighter was killed and four others wounded in Gao.
Anefis is strategically important for the Malian army, as well as for Russian forces in the country’s north. After an April offensive by rebels and jihadists that saw pro-government forces lose Kidal, Anefis remained one of the key regime strongholds in the region.
The Azawad Liberation Front is a military-political coalition of separatist Tuareg groups and Arab nationalists in northern Mali. It advocates self-determination or independence for Azawad, a territory in the country’s north.
Since a 2021 coup, Mali has been ruled by a military junta led by transitional President Assimi Goita. The country’s authorities previously relied on the Wagner private military company and later on the Africa Corps, which is linked to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
