Mali says its forces have retaken the northern rebel stronghold of Kidal

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Malian armed forces have recaptured the northern city of Kidal five months after it was seized by separatist rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam, an armed group linked to al-Qaida, the West African country’ s transitional government said Tuesday.

The capture of the Tuareg stronghold, carried out by air and ground forces, was assisted by Russia’s Africa Corps paramilitary group, according to a statement by government spokesman Brig. Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly read on state television.

But according to the armed groups that controlled the city, the Malian army entered Kidal on Tuesday without a fight. Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for the Azawad Liberation Front, said in a news release that its withdrawal stemmed in part from what he called “the disproportionate use of aerial assets by Russian mercenaries from the Africa Corps.”

Mali has been plagued for over a decade by militants affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, as well as a Tuareg separatist rebellion in the north.

West Africa’s vast Sahel region has become the deadliest place in the world for extremism. The military governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years have turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating the fighters affiliated with al-Qaida or the Islamic State group.

The Africa Corps is a Russian military unit that has replaced the Wagner mercenary group and has teamed up with Mali’s military to hunt down extremists.

The Malian army withdrew from Kidal in April following a series of attacks across the country that resulted in the death of Defense Minister General Sadio Camara.

Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said recapturing Kidal “represents a major symbolic victory to the central government.”