Touzik clashes | |||||||
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Part of Mali War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
GATIA | |||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
5 killed |
5 killed 3 injured 4 POWs |
On July 30, 2016, clashes broke out between GATIA and the Coordination of Azawad Movements in Touzik, Kidal Region, Mali.
A week prior to the clashes at Touzik, a pro-government militia composed of Imghad Tuaregs (considered a vassal clan of Tuaregs by northern Ifoghas Tuaregs) encroached on Kidal, the capital of Kidal region and the headquarters of a coalition of rebel Ifoghas groups, the Coordination of Azawad Movements. [1] Fighting broke out in Kidal, and GATIA was pushed out of the city. [1]
A resurgence in fighting between the CMA and GATIA broke out on July 30, thirty-five kilometers southeast of Kidal near the village of Touzik. [2] Both sides blamed each other for initiating the fighting. [3] The fighting began in the morning, and that afternoon, both sides received reinforcements and resumed their attacks on one another. [4] Smaller clashes took place in Adjlal and Tassik. [5]
Fahad Ag Almahmoud, the secretary-general of GATIA, claimed six CMA fighters were killed in the clashes. [6] Malian media Kibaru, however, gave a death toll of twenty-five High Council for the Unity of Azawad (a member of the CMA) fighters and only one GATIA death. [5]
A September 2016 United Nations report gave a death toll of five fighters killed on both sides each, with three CMA members wounded and four captured by GATIA. [7]