Russian-controlled Africa Corps forces summarily executed nine civilians, including four children, and subjected dozens more to brutal beatings in central Mali during early July 2026. This devastating incident also saw Africa Corps fighters engage in widespread looting and torch at least eight homes, reportedly while searching for individuals suspected of connections to Islamist armed groups.
Assault on Bombori village
On July 10, around 5 a.m., over 100 Africa Corps combatants, supported by several Malian soldiers, stormed the village of Bombori in the Mopti region. Traveling in pick-up trucks and on motorcycles, they forcibly entered residences within the Peul quarter, dragging residents from their homes. At least 80 men and boys were rounded up and held under a tree. There, the fighters assaulted them, interrogated them about alleged ties to Islamist armed groups, and threatened them with death if they withheld information. Six civilians attempting to escape were shot and killed, while three others were arrested and executed, one of whom was beheaded.
“The Malian junta appears to have granted Russian Africa Corps forces carte blanche to commit atrocities against civilians,” stated Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher. “Malian authorities cannot evade their legal obligations by allowing Africa Corps to perpetrate such abuses. A swift and impartial investigation into these incidents is imperative, and all perpetrators, including any implicated Malian military personnel, must face justice.”
Between July 19 and 30, remote interviews were conducted with 13 individuals, including four direct witnesses to the attack and nine civil society members and community leaders, shedding light on the events in Bombori.
Russian forces led the operation
Witnesses confirmed that Russian forces directed the operation in Bombori, accompanied by four Malian soldiers who primarily served as interpreters. A 39-year-old villager recounted, “The Russians were in charge… There were over 100 of them, all in military attire and heavily armed. A white man with two walkie-talkies seemed to be the leader. Each time he posed 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.”
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 one kilometer away. However, witnesses reported that GSIM fighters had departed the village the day prior to the assault.
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, subsequently strengthening its ties with Russia. From 2021, the junta relied on assistance from the Russian-linked Wagner Group for security. In June 2025, the Wagner Group announced its withdrawal from Mali, claiming its mission was “accomplished.” The group was then replaced by Africa Corps, now under Kremlin control, which largely comprises the same personnel, including many former Wagner combatants and key leaders.
Since 2021, extensive abuses committed by the Malian army, the Wagner Group, and Africa Corps during counter-insurgency operations across the country have been documented.
Brutal treatment and executions
On July 10, Africa Corps forces reportedly fired upon civilians fleeing Bombori before detaining and assaulting men and boys. A 40-year-old man recalled, “I saw two men fall from gunshots. 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. “The Russian fighters pointed their weapons at us, searched our pockets, confiscated all our phones, and photographed us,” he continued. “One Russian [combatant] kicked us, another struck 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 man explained that he had hidden in his home with his wife and children when three Russian combatants arrived, “took 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 recounted. “A Russian fighter struck anyone who looked up with his rifle butt.”
The man described the Africa Corps fighters’ interrogation methods: “A Malian soldier translated: ‘Where are the jihadists? Whoever points out a combatant goes home; whoever reveals weapon caches will be rewarded. If you don’t cooperate, we will kill you all!’”
Witnesses reported that Africa Corps forces removed three young men from the detained group and departed with them in a vehicle. A 38-year-old man stated, “Around 9 a.m., they took three young men… and drove them towards the GSIM base. Later, we found them dead.” Residents clarified that while these three men had occasionally assisted GSIM in collecting “taxes” (zakat), they were not combatants.
Residents noted 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 observed a significant increase in Islamist fighters in the village following coordinated GSIM attacks in April and July across Mali. “Since GSIM’s offensives, the security situation in our region has changed,” the butcher commented. “Many GSIM fighters, mostly foreigners, joined those already present.”
However, witnesses maintained that on July 10, GSIM combatants were not present in Bombori. “GSIM fighters left during the night, while everyone was asleep,” the 39-year-old man reported. “They do not protect us in case of an army attack.”
Nine bodies recovered
When Africa Corps forces 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 to the chest and back.” 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 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.”
Targeting of the Peul community
Bombori village consists of two quarters: one inhabited by the Rimaïbé ethnic group and the other by the Peuls. Africa Corps forces exclusively attacked the Peul 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 concentrated its recruitment efforts among the Peuls, leading Malian governments to conflate the Peul community with Islamist combatants. This association has resulted in severe abuses against the Peul population.
Africa Corps forces also stole money and jewelry and set fire to at least eight homes belonging to Peul families whose sons, according to witnesses, were GSIM combatants. “I saw smoke rising from the Peul quarter towards the mosque,” the 57-year-old man stated. “It was afterwards that I saw they [the assailants] had burned eight huts and also destroyed five grain granaries.”
Call for accountability
On August 4 and 5, formal letters detailing these findings and posing questions were sent to the Russian Minister of Defense and Assimi Goïta, Mali’s President and Minister of Defense, respectively. To date, no response has been received.
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 the killing, cruel treatment, and torture of any detained individual. Those 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,” concluded Ilaria Allegrozzi. “Villagers are caught between an Islamist armed group and the government with its Russian allies, with neither belligerent upholding international law.”