A military drone strike killed 21 people in a town in the north of Mali, a West African country. A group of freedom fighters fighting in the region claimed that 11 children were among them.

Qatar-based television channel Al Jazeera reported the news on Monday (August 26) citing rebel groups fighting government forces in northern Mali.
A spokesman for the Tuareg, a larger coalition of pro-independence groups, said 21 people were killed in a military drone strike on a pharmacy in the town of Tinjawaten. Among them are 11 children.

On the other hand, in a message broadcast on state television, the military claimed on Monday that they had attacked the target.

According to the news, eyewitnesses in the city of Tinjawaten confirmed the truth of the drone attack.

Earlier in July, the Tuareg, a larger coalition of pro-independence groups, claimed to have killed 67 members of Mali’s military and 84 members of the Russian private army Wagner Group.

After the attack, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed strong support for Mali’s military.
Mali’s military claims Wagner fighters are helping them train.

Rida Liammouri, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan think tank, said the drone strikes were due to the lack of ground forces in Mali and Wagner’s forces there.

He said, if common people are victims of murder, there will be an increase in revenge.

Since 2020, Mali’s military has been fighting to take control of the country. Mali’s pro-independence groups take over the Tuareg alliance linked to al-Qaeda. They have been fighting against the military forces since 2023 after breaking the agreement with the government.