At least seven mercenaries from Russia's Wagner private military contractor group were killed in an attack in central Mali, Reuters news agency reports, citing information from Site Intelligence Group.
Wagner previously suffered heavy losses in a July battle with predominantly Tuareg separatists and terrorist groups near Mali's border with Algeria which exposed the dangers faced by mercenaries in West Africa's Sahel region.
Mali and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger are struggling to contain separatists and offshoots of Daesh group and Al Qaeda who have occupied swathes of territory in the Sahel over the past 12 years.
SITE Intelligence group, which monitors extremist activities in the region, said in a statement that al Qaeda affiliate JNIM terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place on Thursday.
Weapons seized
JNIM killed seven Russian Wagner mercenaries and seized some weapons, SITE said.
A video seen by Reuters showed bodies of at least five white men in army fatigues lying around a military vehicle following an attack. Reuters was not able to verify the video's authenticity.
Photos shared by SITE Intelligence purportedly from JNIM showed bloodied, lifeless bodies of soldiers and several boxes of arms and ammunition.
A spokesperson for the Malian army could not be reached for comment.
A Malian army source said he saw seven dead bodies including Russian fighters, while two local administrators confirmed the attack. One of them said five Wagner fighters were killed.
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