The plane that crashed on Saturday during a landing in Gao, in northern Mali, belongs to the Malian Army and was transporting soldiers from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, local military and fire sources reported this Sunday.
The accident is surrounded by great secrecy and no official figures for fatalities or possible survivors have been published, although it is known that some of the passengers were injured.
But the human and material cost is high, a source at the airport and another diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse (AFP), without giving more details about the number of victims, guaranteeing, however, that the vast majority of survivors They belong to the paramilitaries. Wagner mercenary group.
“The plane that crashed belongs to the Malian army and I can confirm that it was on a mission in Gao with partners,” a Malian military official told AFP.
“Today [domingo], the researchers returned to the field. On Saturday night, the injured whites were transported on another plane to an unknown destination,” said an airport source, although others received medical assistance in Gao.
“When the survivors arrived yesterday [sábado] According to Gao, they were almost exclusively Wagner’s Russian soldiers,” said a source close to the firefighters, who requested anonymity.
The causes of the accident are still unknown, but a spokesman for the German army, still present in Gao as part of the United Nations mission in Mali (Minusma), stated that the plane must have gone off the runway, according to information available in advance. . Saturday afternoon.
The crashed plane is, he said, a “Russian-made IL-76 model.”
Gao Military Airport is used by the Malian army, its Russian partners and MINUSMA.
The ruling junta in Mali sidelined the French anti-jihadist force in 2022 and the UN force in 2023, to turn militarily and politically towards Russia. He claims to have used the services of “instructors” within the framework of bilateral cooperation with Russia and denies the presence of Wagner, although the existence of mercenaries from the Russian security group is generally accepted by other actors working in Mali.
The accident occurred in a context of growing tensions between the different armed actors in the region and the Malian Army.
Since August, the Timbuktu and Gao regions have been the scene of a series of attacks against Army positions and civilians.
The Army and armed groups fight for control of the territory, at a time when MINUSMA withdraws.
Source: TSF
