{"id":85816,"date":"2023-09-23T15:07:47","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T15:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?p=85816"},"modified":"2023-09-23T15:07:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T15:07:47","slug":"giant-transport-plane-linked-to-wagner-army-crashes-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/giant-transport-plane-linked-to-wagner-army-crashes-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant transport plane &apos;linked to Wagner army&apos; crashes in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Giant transport plane &#8216;linked to Wagner army&#8217; crashes in Africa one month to the day after group&#8217;s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in exploding business jet near Moscow<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Soviet-designed Il-76 came down in Mali where Wagner troops are stationed<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A plane transport &#8216;linked to Wagner&#8217; has crashed in Africa a month after the mercenary group&#8217;s chief was killed in a jet explosion near Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>The Soviet-designed Il-76 came down in Mali where the private army&#8217;s troops are stationed.<\/p>\n<p>It was close to the airport in Gao, a frontline city in the country&#8217;s long-running armed conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Pictures showed the stricken Ilyushin ablaze with black smoke, apparently having crashed after takeoff.\u00a0The fate of those on board was unclear.<\/p>\n<p>There were initially conflicting accounts of whether Wagner people were on board the plane.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/23\/15\/75760469-12552501-image-a-38_1695479259166.jpg\" height=\"754\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>It was close to the airport in Gao, a frontline city in the country&#8217;s long-running armed conflict<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/23\/15\/75760471-12552501-image-a-39_1695479287617.jpg\" height=\"297\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Grey Zone denied the plane belonged to Wagner and said &#8216;this chartered Il-76 aircraft was used by local forces to transport cargo for various purposes<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/23\/15\/75760509-12552501-image-a-40_1695479305154.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks from an unspecified location in Ukraine before he was killed earlier this year<\/p>\n<p>Telegram channel VChK-OGPU said: &#8216;According to preliminary data, there could be mercenaries from PMC Wagner on board.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Anti-government sources in Mali also claimed the Il-76 may have been linked to Wagner.<\/p>\n<p>This was denied by Grey Zone, another Telegram channel linked to Wagner.<\/p>\n<p>Grey Zone denied the plane belonged to Wagner and said &#8216;this chartered Il-76 aircraft was used by local forces to transport cargo for various purposes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There were no fighters or pilots of the Wagner Group on board.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Wagner is closely involved in military operations in Mali.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/23\/15\/75759807-12552501-image-a-36_1695478515563.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group private military contractor, looks from a military vehicle in June before his death<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/23\/15\/75759809-12552501-image-a-37_1695478519057.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, and his top lieutenants were among the 10 people killed in the crash northwest of the Russian capital in August<\/p>\n<p>Another version was that the plane was used by UN peacekeepers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This aircraft was used to supply the Malian army in the 1st Military District of El Muna,&#8217; said one report.<\/p>\n<p>It was on 23 August that Wagner&#8217;s billionaire boss Yevgeny Prigozhin &#8211; once a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin &#8211; was killed when his Embraer Legacy 600 jet.<\/p>\n<p>An explosion on the plane was suspected, and there were unsubstantiated claims Prigozhin had been assassinated on the orders of Putin.<\/p>\n<p>Dambiev pro-war Telegram channel said the crashed Il-76 was operated by a company from Belarus &#8211; a close Russian ally.<\/p>\n<p>The company is named Ruby Star Airways and is headquartered in Minsk.<\/p>\n<p>After a failed coup in Russia in June led by Prigozhin, a number of Wagner forces were sent to Belarus.<\/p>\n<p>A local source in Mali said: &#8216;A white plane missed its landing and crashed near the airport.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Shortly afterwards, it burst into flames.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Early reports suggest pilot error could be the cause, denying the plane was shot down.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12552501\/Giant-transport-plane-linked-Wagner-army-crashes-Africa-one-month-day-groups-leader-Yevgeny-Prigozhin-killed-exploding-business-jet-near-Moscow.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giant transport plane &#8216;linked to Wagner army&#8217; crashes in Africa one month to the day after group&#8217;s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in exploding business jet near Moscow Soviet-designed Il-76 came down in Mali where Wagner troops are stationed A plane transport &#8216;linked to Wagner&#8217; has crashed in Africa a month after the mercenary group&#8217;s chief was killed in a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Giant transport plane &amp;apos;linked to Wagner army&amp;apos; crashes in Africa - Celebrity Tidings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/giant-transport-plane-linked-to-wagner-army-crashes-in-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giant transport plane &amp;apos;linked to Wagner army&amp;apos; 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