প্রকাশ: 21/04/2022
A Russian national operating alongside Malian soldiers
was killed on Tuesday by a roadside bomb in the centre of the conflict-torn
Sahel state, an army document and officials said.
A Malian army unit accompanied by a "Russian
advisor" struck an improvised explosive device near the town of Hombori,
according to a military memo seen by AFP late Tuesday.
One Russian advisor died after being airlifted to the
central town of Sevare, the Malian army memo said.
The death marks the first confirmed fatality of what in Mali
are officially described as Russian military instructors.
The United States, France, and others, say the instructors
are operatives from the Russian private-security firm Wagner.
Mali's army-dominated government denies the claim.
An official at a hospital in Sevare, who asked not to be
named, confirmed the death and said the Russian was in his 30s.
An elected official in central Mali, who also requested
anonymity, said that he had "learned of the death of a Wagner
agent".
Mali is ruled by a military junta that seized power in a
coup in 2020.
It initially promised to restore civilian rule, but it
ignored an earlier commitment to West Africa bloc ECOWAS to stage elections in
February this year, prompting regional sanctions.
The junta's friendship with Russia has also worsened
friction with France, a traditional ally.
France, which intervened in Mali in 2013, decided in
February to withdraw its forces in the country after a decade-long fight
against jihadists.
Vast swathes of Mali lie beyond government control due to
the brutal conflict, which began in 2012 before spreading to neighbouring
Burkina Faso and Niger.
প্রধান সম্পাদকঃ সৈয়দ বোরহান কবীর
ক্রিয়েটিভ মিডিয়া লিমিটেডের অঙ্গ প্রতিষ্ঠান
বার্তা এবং বাণিজ্যিক কার্যালয়ঃ ২/৩ , ব্লক - ডি , লালমাটিয়া , ঢাকা -১২০৭
নিবন্ধিত ঠিকানাঃ বাড়ি# ৪৩ (লেভেল-৫) , রোড#১৬ নতুন (পুরাতন ২৭) , ধানমন্ডি , ঢাকা- ১২০৯
ফোনঃ +৮৮-০২৯১২৩৬৭৭