Mali army says 82 hostage soldiers freed

Mali's army said Thursday that 82 soldiers held hostage for more than three months by jihadists and their Tuareg rebel allies had been released.

The army said the soldiers had been held since attacks in late April, when allied fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known as JNIM, and the Tuareg separatist Azawad Liberation Front began a series of assaults. The army said those attacks included the capture of the northern city of Kidal and the killing of the defence minister.

FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane confirmed that around 80 Malian soldiers had been released for strictly humanitarian purposes, but said their capture had taken place between 2023 and 2026.

A source at Mali's foreign ministry told AFP that the release was the result of Algerian mediation.

The army said the release followed a process begun immediately after the soldiers' capture after the April 25, 2026 attacks. Allied insurgents have carried out other assaults since then, including briefly capturing the town of Anefis in early July.

Mali has faced a security crisis since 2012, fuelled by violence from groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as local criminal gangs and separatists. The country has been ruled by the military since coups in 2020 and 2021.