A plane carrying mercenaries from the Wagner Group crashed while landing in northern Mali

The information was denied by another Telegram channel “Grey Zone”, associated with a group of mercenaries. Gray Zone claimed that “the chartered Il-76 aircraft was used by local forces to transport cargo for various purposes.” “There were no fighters or Wagner group pilots on board,” they assured.

This Saturday, a source at the local airport said that “the reasons are still unknown” and said that he did not know how many people were on the military plane or who owned the plane.

The existence of victims is unknown.

A spokesman for the German army, still present in Gao as part of the UN mission in Mali (Minusma), confirmed this Saturday to AFP that the plane crashed in the morning.

“According to the information we have, the plane must have overshot the runway,” he said, adding that it was not a German army plane. “It was an Il-76 (Russian-made) aircraft, which is used not only by the Russians, but also by the Malian forces and many others,” he added.

The Gao military airport is used by the Malian army, its Russian partners and MINUSMA.

Mali’s ruling junta sidelined French anti-jihadist forces in 2022 and UN forces in 2023 to turn to Russia militarily and politically. Restoring sovereignty is one of its goals.

The accident comes amid growing tensions between various armed forces in the region and the Malian army.

Since August, the Timbuktu and Gao regions have been the scene of a series of attacks on army positions and civilians.

The army and armed groups are fighting for control of the territory as MINUSMA prepares to withdraw from the country.