Al-Qaida-linked group in Mali says it has captured Russians

ISLAMIC extremist rebels in Mali linked to al-Qaida said they have captured mercenary fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group in fighting earlier this month.

It’s the first time that Mali’s extremist rebels known as JNIM have claimed to capture Russian fighters. The Wagner Group fighters were seized in the first week of April in the mountainous Segou region of central Mali, said the JNIM statement, which called the fighters “criminals.”

Since the beginning of the year, several European countries have denounced the presence of Wagner’s Russian mercenaries, estimated to be about 1,000, who fight alongside Malian soldiers. They have been blamed for killing about 300 civilians in the central town of Moura. They have also been blamed for staging burials of bodies near the Gossi military base and trying to blame French military forces for the graves.

However, Mali’s ruling junta denies that Wagner’s forces are fighting in the country, saying