In early July 2026, forces from the Russia-controlled Africa Corps summarily executed nine civilians, including four children, and subjected dozens more to brutal beatings in central Mali. The Africa Corps fighters also ransacked and set ablaze at least eight homes, reportedly while searching for individuals suspected of links to Islamist armed groups.
On July 10, around 5 a.m., over 100 Africa Corps combatants, 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 Peul quarter, dragging residents outside. At least 80 men and boys were then gathered under a tree. There, the fighters subjected them to severe beatings, interrogated them about alleged connections to Islamist armed factions, and threatened them with death if they withheld information. Six civilians attempting to flee were shot dead, while three others were arrested and executed, one of whom was decapitated.
The malian junta’s alleged complicity
“The Malian junta appears to have granted Russia’s Africa Corps forces carte blanche to kill civilians,” stated Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher. “Malian authorities cannot evade their legal responsibility by allowing the Africa Corps to commit such atrocities. They must swiftly and impartially investigate these abuses and bring all those responsible to justice, including any Malian military personnel involved.”
From July 19 to July 30, remote interviews were conducted with 13 individuals, including four direct witnesses to the attack and nine civil society members and community leaders.
Witnesses confirmed that Russian forces spearheaded 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 seeing “seven pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns, and over 60 motorcycles displaying Malian flags.”
Context of conflict and russian engagement
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM or Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, JNIM) has controlled Bombori since 2017, maintaining a base just a kilometer away. Witnesses reported that GSIM fighters had departed the village the day before the Africa Corps assault.
Mali’s successive governments have battled Islamist armed groups since 2012. Following coups in 2020 and 2021, the military junta expelled French and UN forces, strengthening ties with Russia. Since 2021, the junta has relied on the Russia-linked Wagner Group for security assistance. In June 2025, the Wagner Group announced its withdrawal from Mali after “accomplishing” its mission. It was subsequently replaced by the Africa Corps, now under Kremlin control, comprising largely the same personnel, including many former Wagner fighters and key leaders.
Since 2021, widespread abuses committed by the Malian army, the Wagner Group, and the Africa Corps during counter-insurgency operations across the country have been documented.
Brutal tactics and civilian casualties
Witnesses detailed how, on July 10, Africa Corps forces fired upon civilians fleeing Bombori before detaining and beating men and boys. “I saw two men fall under fire,” a 40-year-old man stated. “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 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, 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 in the village.”
The 39-year-old 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, face down,” before pushing him towards the gathering point. “We were all sitting on the ground, heads down,” he recounted. “A Russian fighter hit anyone who looked up with the butt of his rifle.”
He described the Africa Corps fighters’ interrogation of detainees: “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 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 found them dead.” Locals explained that these three men had occasionally assisted GSIM in collecting “taxes” (zakat in Arabic) but were not combatants.
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 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, joined those already here.”
However, witnesses confirmed that on July 10, GSIM fighters were not present in Bombori. “GSIM fighters left during the night, while everyone was asleep,” the 39-year-old man stated. “They don’t protect us in case of an army attack.”
Aftermath: discovery of bodies and ethnic targeting
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 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 slit and were bound, 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] gunshot wounds to the head and… lying face down next to each other.”
Bombori village comprises a Rimaïbé ethnic quarter and a Peul quarter. Africa Corps forces exclusively targeted the Peul sector. “I remained seated at my brother’s forge and had no problems,” observed the butcher, a Rimaïbé. “The attackers 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 Peul community, leading Malian governments to conflate the Peul population with Islamist fighters, resulting in severe abuses against Peuls.
Africa Corps forces also stole money and jewelry and torched at least eight homes belonging to Peul families whose sons, according to witnesses, were GSIM fighters. “I saw smoke rising from the Peul quarter towards the mosque,” the 57-year-old man indicated. “It was after that I saw they [the attackers] had burned eight huts and also destroyed five grain silos.”
Calls for accountability and international law
On August 4 and 5, formal letters detailing these findings and posing questions were sent to the Russian Defense Minister and to Assimi Goïta, Mali’s President and Defense Minister, respectively. No responses have been received to date.
All parties to 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 atrocities being committed in Mali,” Ilaria Allegrozzi concluded. “Villagers are trapped between an Islamist armed group and the government with its Russian allies, with neither belligerent respecting international law.”
