Tuareg fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front shot down a Russian Africa Corps Mi-24 combat helicopter in northern Mali on Sunday afternoon. The incident occurred in the Tlemsi area along the road linking Gao with Anefis.
The downing is part of a coordinated weekend offensive launched by Tuareg separatists and the al-Qaeda-linked group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin. The insurgents are actively targeting Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries across northern and central Mali.
FLA spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadan stated the aircraft was destroyed and its crew killed, releasing photo and video footage of the wreckage. The broader conflict remains fiercely disputed on the ground. The FLA claims to have entered and seized the strategic city of Anefis. The Malian military and Russian forces deny this, stating they repelled the attackers and remain secured in their camps.
The current wave of attacks replicates a highly effective offensive from April 2026 that forced Russian and Malian troops to abandon the city of Kidal. Strikes have expanded across multiple locations, including Gao and Sévaré. This marks the second Russian aircraft lost to these specific rebel factions in recent months, following the destruction of a Russian Mi-8AMTSh helicopter near Gao on April 25, 2026.
In retaliatory clashes over the weekend, the Russian Africa Corps reported killing two high-ranking enemy commanders, including Abdelrraman Zaza, the JNIM leader of Tinessako. African Union Commission President Mahmud Ali Yusuf firmly condemned the weekend attacks and expressed solidarity with the Malian government.