In late July 2024, a Wagner Group-Malian Armed Forces convoy was ambushed near Tinzaouatene, Mali, by both Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin and the Azawad Cadre Stratégique Permanent. In the ensuing battle, Wagner suffered its largest loss in Africa to date – the CSP claimed it killed 84 Wagner personnel, and 47 Malian soldiers.
In early October, a large Wagner-FAMa convoy was sighted multiple times making its way toward the scene of the July battle. Part of the convoy reached the area where the fighting had taken place, most likely to retrieve the bodies of Wagner personnel who had fallen during the fighting. In the following days, after they arrived at the July clash site near Kidal, which is located south of Tinzaouatene, documentation surfaced online of two downed Russian ZALA KUB UAVs, estimated to be in use by Wagner forces in Mali. This documentation marks the first appearance of Russian Zala KUB UAVs deployed as loitering munitions by Russian operatives in Mali, and more broadly in the African continent.
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