Jihadists and their separatist Tuareg allies fought on Monday to control a key camp in northern Mali where Russian paramilitaries and forces from the country's military junta have been holed up.
The Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM jihadists and Tuareg FLA separatists launched coordinated attacks in the region on Saturday, just over two months after another major offensive in which they captured the strategic northern town of Kidal and killed the troubled west African country's defence minister.
The FLA claimed control of Anefis on Saturday, a location crucial to securing a grip on Kidal, which is about 100 kilometres (62 miles) away.
Russian paramilitaries from the Africa Corps and a few Malian soldiers were still inside a camp, and fighting was ongoing on Monday evening, according to the army.
"This morning, the rebels and their JNIM allies fired shells at the camp where the Russian fighters from Africa Corps and Malian army soldiers are entrenched. Last night, reports indicated that the Russians used kamikaze drones," a security source told AFP.
