In a deeply disturbing incident, forces operating under the Russian government’s control, known as the Africa Corps, are alleged to have summarily executed nine civilians, including four young children, while also brutalizing dozens more in central Mali during early July 2026. My investigation reveals that these combatants also looted and deliberately set fire to at least eight homes, seemingly targeting individuals perceived to have connections with Islamist armed groups.

The morning of July 10, around 5 a.m., witnessed a brutal assault on Bombori village in the Mopti region. More than 100 Africa Corps fighters, accompanied by several Malian soldiers, arrived in a convoy of pickup trucks and motorcycles. They forcibly entered houses within the Fulani quarter, dragging residents outside before herding at least 80 men and boys under a tree. There, the fighters subjected them to severe beatings, interrogated them about supposed ties to Islamist armed groups, and issued death threats if they withheld information. Six civilians attempting to flee were shot dead, while three others were apprehended and executed, one of whom was gruesomely beheaded.

Malian junta’s alleged complicity

The Malian junta appears to have granted Russian-controlled Africa Corps forces carte blanche to commit atrocities against civilians. Malian authorities cannot evade their legal responsibilities by permitting the Africa Corps to engage in such abuses. They must promptly and impartially investigate these violations and bring all perpetrators to justice, including any Malian military personnel implicated in these events.

Between July 19 and July 30, I conducted remote interviews with 13 individuals, including four direct witnesses to the attack and nine civil society members and community leaders, to piece together the events of that day.

Witnesses confirmed that Russian forces spearheaded the Bombori operation, with four Malian soldiers primarily serving as interpreters. “The Russians were in command… There were over 100 of them, all in military uniforms 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 seeing “seven pickups mounted with machine guns, and over 60 motorcycles flying Malian flags.”

The Al-Qaeda-linked 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. Witnesses stated that GSIM fighters had departed the village the day before the attack.

The shifting security landscape in Mali

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

Since 2021, reports have consistently documented widespread abuses perpetrated by the Malian army, the Wagner Group, and the Africa Corps during counter-insurgency operations across the country.

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

The 39-year-old man explained that he had hidden in his home with his wife and children when three Russian fighters arrived, “took me by the hand and violently forced me out onto my stomach,” before pushing him towards the gathering point. “We were all sitting on the ground, heads bowed,” he recounted. “A Russian fighter struck anyone who looked up with the butt of his rifle.”

The man described how Africa Corps fighters interrogated the detainees: “A Malian soldier translated: ‘Where are the jihadists? Whoever shows a fighter goes home; whoever shows weapon caches will get a reward. If you don’t cooperate, we’ll kill you all!’”

Witnesses reported that Africa Corps forces separated three young men from the group of detainees and drove off with them. “Around 9 a.m., they took three young men… and drove them towards the GSIM base,” a 38-year-old man recounted. “Later, we would find them dead.” Locals clarified that the three men had occasionally assisted GSIM in collecting “taxes” (“zakat” in Arabic) but were not combatants.

Bombori caught between armed factions

Residents indicated 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 (Islamic law). They noted that the number of Islamist fighters in the village had significantly increased following coordinated attacks by GSIM and its allies across Mali in April and July. “Since the GSIM offensives, the security situation in our region has changed,” observed the butcher. “Many GSIM fighters, mostly foreigners, were added to those already here.”

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

When the Africa Corps departed Bombori around 2 p.m., 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 that the bodies of the two men shot in front of him bore “large, bloody open wounds on 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, 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 signs to the head and… lying face down next to each other.”

Bombori village is divided into a quarter inhabited by the Rimaïbé ethnic group and another by the Fulani. The Africa Corps forces exclusively attacked the Fulani sector. “I remained seated at my brother’s forge, and I had no problems,” observed 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 focused its recruitment efforts on the Fulani community, and Malian governments have often conflated the Fulani population with Islamist fighters, leading to severe abuses against the Fulani.

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 assailants] had burned eight huts and also destroyed five grain stores.”

On August 4 and 5, I sent detailed inquiries to the Russian Minister of Defense, as well as to Assimi Goïta, President and Minister of Defense of Mali, outlining these findings and posing specific questions. To date, no response has been received.

All parties engaged in the armed conflict in Mali are bound by international humanitarian law, including Common Article 3 to 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 are implicated under the principle of command responsibility may face prosecution for war crimes.

The Bombori massacre serves as a stark emblem of the atrocities unfolding in Mali. Villagers find themselves tragically trapped between an Islamist armed group and the government with its Russian allies, with neither belligerent demonstrating respect for international law.