Key facts
- Russian paramilitary group Africa Corps killed eight civilians, including three children, in Mali on June 15.
- Human Rights Watch stated the air strikes were "unlawfully indiscriminate."
- The strikes hit the village of Kyrnia in the central Mopti region.
- Africa Corps claimed to have attacked a "gathering place of terrorist groups."
- Residents reported that JNIM fighters were in the village but not in the targeted area.
- HRW urged Mali's government to investigate the incident and hold those responsible accountable.
Russian paramilitary group Africa Corps killed eight civilians, including three children, in Mali last month during air strikes that Human Rights Watch called "unlawfully indiscriminate." The group's investigation found that an aircraft, identified by Malian military sources as a Sukhoi Su-24, dropped munitions on the village of Kyrnia in the central Mopti region on June 15. One strike hit near the home of the village chief, killing his wife, two of his children, and another child, while a second strike hit a nearby cattle market, killing four men. Human Rights Watch stated that no fighters from Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), the al Qaeda-linked group that has controlled the village for six years, were believed to have been killed. Africa Corps posted aerial footage of a strike on June 15, claiming it attacked a "gathering place of terrorist groups" in the Mopti region, which HRW geolocated to Kyrnia. Malian forces have been fighting Islamist insurgents with Russian backing since France's withdrawal. Both Malian soldiers and their Russian allies have been accused of rights abuses, with one monitoring group finding they killed 918 civilians last year. Residents told HRW that while three of the chief's sons were JNIM fighters, they were not in Kyrnia during the strike, and at least 100 JNIM fighters were in the village but mainly at the mosque, which was not struck. HRW urged Mali's government to investigate the strikes and hold those responsible accountable, noting that the Malian government is also accountable for allied forces' atrocities.