Rights Group: Russian Fighters Killed Nine Civilians in Mali

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Russian paramilitary fighters from Africa Corps killed nine civilians, including four children, during an operation in central Mali last month as they searched for suspected jihadists.

More than 100 Africa Corps fighters, accompanied by Malian soldiers, raided the village of Bombori in the Mopti region at dawn on July 10, the rights group said.

HRW said the village had been under the control of the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) since 2017, with the group maintaining a nearby base.

The fighters broke into homes in the predominantly Fulani neighbourhood, rounded up at least 80 men and boys and questioned them about alleged links to Islamist armed groups, HRW said.

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The rights group said the fighters beat the detainees and threatened to kill them if they withheld information. Six civilians were shot dead while trying to flee, while three others were detained and later killed, including one who was beheaded, it said.

Residents recovered nine bodies after the Africa Corps fighters left, including five men and four children aged between six and 17, HRW said.

The organisation said it remotely interviewed 13 people, including four witnesses to the attack and nine civil society members and community leaders.

Mali has been gripped by a security crisis since 2012, with jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, criminal gangs and armed separatists driving violence across the country.

Mali’s military junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, has moved away from former colonial power France and strengthened military and political ties with Russia.