Nairobi – Forces operating under the Russian-controlled Africa Corps are accused of summarily executing nine civilians, including four children, and brutalizing dozens more in central Mali during early July 2026. Our investigation reveals these fighters also looted and torched at least eight homes, reportedly while searching for individuals suspected of ties to Islamist armed groups.

On July 10, around 5:00 AM, a contingent of over 100 Africa Corps fighters, accompanied by several Malian soldiers, stormed Bombori village in the Mopti region. Traveling in pick-up trucks and on motorcycles, they forcibly entered homes in the Fulani quarter, dragging residents outside. At least 80 men and boys were rounded up under a tree, where they endured beatings and interrogation regarding alleged connections to Islamist armed groups. The fighters threatened to kill them if information was withheld. Six civilians attempting to flee were shot dead, while three others were apprehended and executed, one of whom was decapitated.

“The Malian transitional government appears to have granted Russian-backed Africa Corps forces carte blanche to commit atrocities against civilians,” remarked a senior Sahel researcher. “Malian authorities cannot evade their legal obligations by allowing the Africa Corps to perpetrate such abuses. A swift and impartial investigation into these violations is imperative, with all those responsible, including any implicated Malian military personnel, brought to justice.”

From July 19 to July 30, our team conducted remote interviews with 13 individuals, including four direct witnesses to the attack and nine community leaders and civil society representatives.

Witnesses consistently reported that Russian forces directed the Bombori operation, with four Malian soldiers primarily serving as interpreters. “The Russians were in charge… There were over 100 of them, all in military fatigues and heavily armed,” recounted a 39-year-old villager. “A white man with two walkie-talkies seemed to be the leader. Each time he asked a question, he fired into the air.”

Another witness, a 57-year-old butcher, described observing “seven pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns, and over 60 motorcycles displaying Malian flags.”

The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM, or Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, JNIM) has maintained control over Bombori since 2017, with a base situated just a kilometer away. Villagers indicated that GSIM fighters had departed the area the day before the attack.

Since 2012, successive Malian governments have grappled with Islamist armed groups. Following coups in 2020 and 2021, the military junta expelled French and UN forces, strengthening its ties with Russia. From 2021, the junta relied on the Russian-linked Wagner Group for security assistance. In June 2025, the Wagner Group announced its withdrawal from Mali, claiming its mission was “accomplished.” The armed group was subsequently replaced by the Africa Corps, now under Kremlin control, comprising largely the same personnel, including many former Wagner combatants and some of its key leaders.

Our ongoing documentation since 2021 has revealed widespread abuses perpetrated by the Malian army, the Wagner Group, and the Africa Corps during counter-insurgency operations across the nation.

Witnesses detailed how, on July 10, Africa Corps forces fired upon civilians fleeing Bombori before detaining and assaulting men and boys. “I saw two men fall under a hail of bullets,” a 40-year-old man stated. “I looked to my left and saw two motorcycles with two white soldiers; the one on the first motorcycle continued to shoot at the two men on the ground.” He added that a Russian fighter then led him to a tree where dozens of men and boys were held at gunpoint. “The Russian fighters pointed their weapons at us, searched our pockets, confiscated all our phones, and photographed us,” he continued. “One Russian [fighter] kicked us, another struck us with his weapon, and I received several blows to my back and chest… while others kept bringing more men they had arrested from the village.”

The 39-year-old man recounted hiding in his home with his wife and children when three Russian fighters arrived, “grabbed my hand and violently forced me outside, face down,” before pushing him towards the assembly point. “We were all sitting on the ground, heads bowed,” he described. “A Russian fighter struck anyone who looked up with the butt of his rifle.”

He further detailed the Africa Corps fighters’ interrogation methods: “A Malian soldier translated: ‘Where are the jihadists? Whoever points out a fighter goes home; whoever reveals weapons caches will be rewarded. If you don’t cooperate, we’ll kill you all!’”

Witnesses reported that Africa Corps forces removed three young men from the detained group and departed with them in a vehicle. “Around 9 AM, they took three young men… and drove them towards the GSIM base,” a 38-year-old man recounted. “Later, their bodies were found.” Locals explained that the three men had occasionally assisted GSIM in collecting “taxes” (zakat) but were not fighters themselves.

Residents indicated that GSIM, responsible for widespread abuses across Mali since 2017, had controlled Bombori for nine years, collecting “taxes,” recruiting and training young men, and enforcing Sharia law. They noted a significant increase in Islamist fighters in the village following coordinated GSIM and allied attacks in April and July across Mali. “Since the GSIM offensives, the security situation in our region has changed,” observed the butcher. “Many GSIM fighters, mostly foreigners, joined those already here.”

However, witnesses affirmed that GSIM combatants were not present in Bombori on July 10. “GSIM fighters left during the night, while everyone was asleep,” stated the 39-year-old man. “They don’t protect us in case of an army attack.”

When the Africa Corps departed Bombori around 2:00 PM, residents recovered the bodies of nine individuals, including five men aged 19 to 34 and four children aged 6 to 17.

The 40-year-old man described the bodies of the two men shot in front of him as having “large, bloody open wounds to the chest and back.” Regarding the three men taken away, he indicated that “one had been decapitated, his head displayed in the middle of the village… the other two had their throats slit and were tied up, hands behind their backs.”

The 38-year-old man explained finding “the bodies of two children, both around 6 years old, shot dead next to a burned house,” and two other bodies “near the national road [with] bullet marks to the head and… lying face down next to each other.”

Bombori village is divided into a Rimaïbé ethnic quarter and a Fulani quarter. Africa Corps forces exclusively targeted the Fulani sector. “I remained seated at my brother’s forge, and I had no problems,” noted the butcher, a Rimaïbé. “The attackers did not enter our homes, nor search inside, and no one was arrested or killed in our area.”

GSIM has historically focused its recruitment efforts on the Fulani community, and Malian governments have often conflated the Fulani people with Islamist fighters, leading to severe abuses against them.

Africa Corps forces also stole money and jewelry and set fire to at least eight homes belonging to Fulani families whose sons, according to witnesses, were GSIM fighters. “I saw smoke rising from the Fulani quarter towards the mosque,” the 57-year-old man indicated. “It was later that I saw they [the attackers] had burned eight huts and also destroyed five grain granaries.”

On August 4 and 5, our team sent letters to the Russian Minister of Defense and to Assimi Goïta, Mali’s President and Minister of Defense, respectively, outlining these findings and posing questions. No response has been received to date.

All parties involved in the armed conflict in Mali are bound by international humanitarian law, including common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and customary laws of war. Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians or civilian property are prohibited, as are murder, cruel treatment, and torture of any person in detention. Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent, or who are implicated under command responsibility, may face prosecution for war crimes.

“The Bombori massacre serves as a stark illustration of the atrocities occurring in Mali,” concluded the senior Sahel researcher. “Villagers found themselves caught between an Islamist armed group and the government with its Russian allies, with neither belligerent adhering to international law.”