Rights group accuses Russian paramilitaries of summary executions and home burnings during July raid in central Mali, carried out alongside Malian soldiers.
Russian government-controlled paramilitaries from the Africa Corps summarily killed nine civilians, including four children, and beat dozens of others in a central Malian village in early July, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published on Thursday.
The rights organisation said more than 100 Africa Corps fighters, accompanied by several Malian soldiers, stormed the village of Bombori in the Mopti region at about 5 a.m. on 10 July. Travelling in pickup trucks and on motorbikes, the fighters broke into homes in a predominantly Fulani neighbourhood, rounded up at least 80 men and boys, and interrogated them about alleged links to Islamist armed groups.
HRW Accuses Africa Corps of Killing Nine Civilians in Mali:
According to witnesses interviewed by HRW(Human Rights Watch), the fighters beat the detainees and threatened to kill them if they withheld information. Six civilians were shot dead as they tried to flee. Three others were detained and executed; one was beheaded and his head left in the middle of the village, while the other two had their throats slit and hands bound.
Residents later recovered the bodies of five men aged 19 to 34 and four children aged six to 17. At least eight homes were looted and burned. The Africa Corps contingent left the village around 2 p.m.
“The Malian junta appears to have given Russian Africa Corps forces a green light to kill civilians,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Malian authorities cannot evade legal responsibility by leaving the atrocities to the Africa Corps. They need to promptly and impartially investigate these abuses, and hold all those responsible to account, including Malian military personnel.”
HRW said it conducted remote interviews with 13 people, including four witnesses to the attack and nine community leaders and civil society members, between 19 and 30 July. The village of Bombori had been under the control of the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) since 2017, with fighters maintaining a nearby base, according to the report. JNIM fighters had left the village the day before the raid, witnesses said.
Russia-Linked Africa Corps Accused of Mali Civilian Killings:
The incident comes a month after HRW documented a separate Africa Corps airstrike on 15 June in the nearby village of Kyrnia that killed eight civilians, including three children. In that case, an aircraft identified as a Sukhoi Su-24 dropped munitions that struck a residential area and a cattle market; no known JNIM fighters were reported among the casualties.
Africa Corps, established under Russia’s defence ministry, largely replaced the Wagner Group in Mali after the mercenary organisation’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin died in 2023. The force supports Mali’s military-led government in its campaign against Islamist armed groups that have operated across the Sahel for more than a decade. Mali’s junta has deepened security ties with Moscow since expelling French and United Nations forces in recent years.
Mali has faced persistent violence from groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, as well as communal conflicts and criminal networks. Civilian casualties have remained high amid operations by both state-aligned forces and armed groups.
Neither the Malian authorities nor Russian officials had issued an immediate public response to the latest HRW findings at the time of publication. Human Rights Watch called for independent investigations into the alleged abuses and for accountability under international law.