Mali rebels claim to down army helicopter with drone

By AFP - Feb 12,2025 - Last updated at Feb 12,2025

BAMAKO — Mali's Front for the Liberation of Azawad [FLA] rebel group told AFP Wednesday its fighters used a drone to take out an army helicopter in the Kidal region, though the military did not confirm the claim.

Army general staff said the military had intercepted a "terrorist" drone after the FLA said the mainly Tuareg group's fighters had "brought down a Malian army helicopter in Tessalit" in the country's northeast late Tuesday.

AFP could not independently confirm the claim by FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane.

In a statement issued Tuesday evening, the Malian army general staff said it informed "the public that on Tuesday, February 11... a terrorist drone was intercepted and recovered in the airport area of Tessalit in the Kidal region."

The military added the drone had been "trying to observe a FAMA [Malian Armed Forces] helicopter in transit on the helipad. The helicopter was refuelled, took off and returned to its base."

The FLA spokesman told AFP the army's statement was false, adding: "We did shoot down the army helicopter with our drones."

Defeated in Kidal by an army enjoying Russian mercenary support in November 2023, the rebels retreated further north towards the Algerian border, from where they carried out an attack last July which killed dozens of Malian soldiers and fighters from Russian paramilitary group Wagner.

A Ukrainian military intelligence official, Andriy Yusov, implied thereafter that Kyiv had provided the rebels with information to aid their attack. Ukraine later denied that it provided intelligence, as well as reports that it had supplied rebels with drones.

The separatist FLA, which claimed responsibility for the July attack, was created late last year in a merger of several predominantly Tuareg groups seeking territory in northern Mali.

Since coming to power, Mali's ruling military junta has ended the country's long-standing alliance with France and European partners, instead turning militarily and politically towards Russia.