Mali forces and Russian mercenaries have withdrawn from the northern city of Kidal after a series of coordinated attacks in the country carried out by rebel and jihadist forces, rebels in Mali announced today, quoted by the Associated Press.
A spokesman for the Tuareg-led separatist group, the Front for the Liberation of Azawad (FLA), said that Russian African Corps forces and Malian troops had withdrawn from the city after an agreement was reached for their peaceful withdrawal.
“Kidal has been declared free,” FLA spokesman Mohamed Ramadan said.
The separatists joined jihadist rebels yesterday in carrying out one of the largest coordinated attacks on the Malian army in the capital and several other cities, killing the defense minister and wounding at least 16 people.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.
Kidal was a longtime rebel stronghold before being captured by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. His capture marked an important symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.
Yesterday's attacks were the first time the separatists had worked together with the al-Qaeda-linked group, the "Group in Support of Islam and Muslims" (JNIM), which also claimed responsibility for yesterday's attacks on Bamako's international airport and four other cities, including Kidal, in central and northern Mali.
Mali government spokesman Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on public television late last night that 16 people had been injured, including civilians and military personnel, and several rebels had been killed, without specifying the number.