Forces from the Russian government-controlled Africa Corps are alleged to have summarily executed nine civilians, including four children, and subjected dozens of others to brutal beatings in central Mali during early July 2026. These fighters reportedly looted and torched at least eight homes, seemingly in search of individuals connected to Islamist armed groups.
A dawn raid on bombori village
At approximately 5:00 AM on July 10, over 100 Africa Corps combatants, accompanied by several Malian soldiers, descended upon Bombori village in the Mopti region. Traveling in pick-up trucks and on motorcycles, they stormed houses within the Fulani quarter, dragging residents from their homes and forcibly gathering at least 80 men and boys beneath a tree. There, the fighters subjected them to severe beatings, interrogated them about suspected ties to Islamist armed groups, and threatened them with death if they withheld information. Six civilians attempting to flee were shot dead, while three others were apprehended and executed, one of whom was decapitated.
Concerns have been raised that the Malian junta appears to have granted Russian Africa Corps forces carte blanche to target civilians. The Malian authorities cannot evade their legal responsibilities by permitting Africa Corps to commit such atrocities. A swift and impartial investigation into these abuses is imperative, with all those responsible, including any implicated Malian military personnel, brought to justice.
Our investigation, conducted remotely between July 19 and 30, involved interviews with 13 individuals, including direct witnesses to the assault, as well as civil society members and community leaders.
Russian forces led the operation
Eyewitnesses consistently described Russian-controlled forces as leading the operation in Bombori, with Malian soldiers primarily serving as interpreters. Residents recounted seeing over 100 heavily armed Russian fighters in full military attire. One villager described a ‘white’ commander with two walkie-talkies who would fire his weapon into the air each time he posed a question. Another witness, a 57-year-old butcher, detailed the presence of “seven pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns, and over 60 motorcycles displaying Malian flags.”
The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM, or Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, JNIM), an Al-Qaeda-affiliated entity, has maintained control over Bombori since 2017, operating a base located just one kilometer away. However, witnesses affirmed that GSIM fighters had departed the village the day before the attack.
Mali’s shifting security landscape
Successive Malian governments have been grappling with Islamist armed groups since 2012. Following the coups of 2020 and 2021, the military junta expelled French and United Nations forces, subsequently strengthening its ties with Russia. Since 2021, the junta has relied on assistance from the Russia-linked Wagner Group for security operations. In June 2025, the Wagner Group announced its withdrawal from Mali, claiming its mission was “accomplished.” It was replaced by the Africa Corps, now under Kremlin control, which comprises largely the same personnel, including many former Wagner combatants and some of its key leaders.
This incident adds to a troubling record of widespread abuses documented since 2021, attributed to the Malian army, the Wagner Group, and now Africa Corps, during counter-insurgency operations across the nation.
Brutal treatment of civilians
Witnesses recounted how Africa Corps forces opened fire on civilians attempting to flee Bombori before detaining and severely beating men and boys. One 40-year-old man described seeing “two men fall under a hail of bullets,” adding that he then observed “two white military personnel on motorcycles, with one continuously firing at the two fallen men.” He was then taken by a Russian fighter to a tree where dozens of men and boys were held at gunpoint. “Russian fighters pointed their weapons at us, searched our pockets, confiscated all our phones, and photographed us,” he continued. “One [fighter] kicked us, another struck us with his weapon; I received multiple blows to my back and chest… while others continued to bring in more men they had arrested from the village.”
A 39-year-old resident explained that he had hidden in his home with his wife and children when three Russian fighters arrived, “grabbed me by the hand and violently forced me outside, face down,” before pushing him towards the gathering point. “We were all sitting on the ground, heads bowed,” he recalled. “A Russian fighter would strike anyone who dared to look up with the butt of his rifle.”
The man described the Africa Corps fighters’ interrogation methods: “A Malian soldier translated: ‘Where are the jihadists? Whoever points out a fighter goes home; whoever reveals weapon caches will receive a reward. If you do not cooperate, we will kill you all!’”
Executions and grim discoveries
Witnesses reported that Africa Corps forces removed three young men from the group of detainees and drove away with them. “Around 9 AM, they took three young men… and drove them towards the GSIM base,” a 38-year-old man recounted. “Later, we found them dead.” Local residents explained that these three men had occasionally assisted GSIM in collecting ‘taxes’ (zakat in Arabic) but were not combatants.
Residents noted that GSIM, which has committed widespread abuses across Mali since 2017, had controlled Bombori for nine years, collecting ‘taxes,’ recruiting and training young men, and enforcing Sharia law. They observed a significant increase in Islamist fighters in the village following coordinated GSIM offensives 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, have joined those who were already here.”
However, witnesses firmly stated that GSIM combatants were not present in Bombori on July 10. “GSIM fighters left overnight, while everyone slept,” the 39-year-old man explained. “They do not protect us in case of an army attack.”
When Africa Corps departed Bombori around 2 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 on their chests and backs.” Regarding the three men who were taken away, he indicated that “one had been decapitated, his head displayed in the middle of the village… the other two had their throats cut and were tied up, with their hands behind their backs.”
A 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.”
Targeting a specific community
Bombori village comprises a neighborhood inhabited by the Rimaïbé ethnic group and another by the Fulani. Africa Corps forces reportedly attacked only the Fulani sector. “I remained seated at my brother’s forge, and I had no problems,” noted the butcher, a Rimaïbé. “The assailants did not enter our homes, nor search inside, and no one was arrested or killed among us.”
GSIM has historically concentrated its recruitment efforts on the Fulani community, and successive Malian governments have often conflated the Fulani with Islamist fighters, leading to severe abuses against this ethnic group.
Africa Corps forces also reportedly 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 stated. “It was after that I saw they [the assailants] had burned eight huts and also destroyed five grain silos.”
Unanswered calls for accountability
Inquiries sent to the Russian Ministry of Defense on August 4, and to Assimi Goïta, Mali’s President and Minister of Defense, on August 5, outlining these findings and posing questions, have thus far received no response.
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 grave 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 is emblematic of the widespread atrocities occurring in Mali. Villagers find themselves caught between an Islamist armed group and the government with its Russian allies, with neither belligerent seemingly upholding international law.
