General Jean Elysee Dao reports 60 additional troops wounded as military reclaims strategic northern town following week-long offensive.
Published On 12 Jul 2026
The Malian army has confirmed that approximately 30 soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded during an operation to retake the northern town of Anefis from rebel forces.
Tuareg separatists and fighters affiliated with an al-Qaeda-linked group seized Anefis on July 4 as part of a coordinated wave of assaults on military positions across the country.
On Friday, the army announced it had regained control of the town, located roughly 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the strategic city of Kidal, after nearly a week of intense fighting.
“I regret the loss of around 30 people, 30 fallen martyrs,” army chief General Jean Elysee Dao told state television, adding that about 60 soldiers were wounded, including several in serious condition.
The general’s remarks came a day after the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) acknowledged losing some of its top fighters during the battle against the Malian army and its allied Russian paramilitaries, while claiming to have inflicted “the heaviest material and human losses in their history in the region.”
Mali’s military-led government has confronted a protracted security, political, and humanitarian crisis for more than a decade. The al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin controls vast rural territories, while the FLA continues to pursue an independent state in northern Mali.
Although frequently at odds, fighters from both groups—or their predecessor organisations—have occasionally collaborated against common adversaries, namely the Malian government and its allies.
In late April, the two groups orchestrated another series of coordinated attacks across Mali that killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara and prompted militants to declare a siege on the capital, Bamako.