World News
Russian force accused of killing nine civilians in a central Malian village
By Staff Writer | 22 August 2026
Fighters of the Russian state's Africa Corps shot or executed nine people at Bombori on 10 July, four of them children, with Malian soldiers present, a rights organisation says.
More than 100 fighters of the Russian government controlled Africa Corps entered the village of Bombori, in the Mopti region of central Mali, at about five in the morning on 10 July, according to findings published on Thursday by an international rights organisation. Nine civilians were killed, four of them children. At least eight homes were looted and burned.
The organisation says the fighters arrived in pickup trucks and on motorbikes, accompanied by several Malian soldiers, broke into homes in the village's Fulani neighbourhood and gathered at least 80 men and boys under a tree. There they were beaten and questioned about supposed links to armed Islamist groups. Six people who tried to run were shot dead. Three others were taken away and executed, one of them beheaded.
The Malian authorities cannot evade legal responsibility by leaving the atrocities to the Africa Corps
Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at the organisation that published the findings
How the account was assembled
Thirteen people were interviewed remotely between 19 and 30 July, among them four witnesses to the attack and nine civil society members and community leaders. Witnesses said the Russian fighters led the operation and that four Malian soldiers went with them, acting mainly as interpreters. One villager described a man with two radio handsets who appeared to be in command and fired into the air after every question. When the force left at about two in the afternoon, residents recovered nine bodies: five men aged between 19 and 34, and four children aged between six and seventeen.
Bombori has one neighbourhood of ethnic Rimaibe residents and one of Fulani residents. Only the Fulani side was attacked, and a Rimaibe butcher said nobody in his neighbourhood was arrested or harmed.
A village held by an armed group, without its fighters that day
The Al-Qaeda linked group known as JNIM has controlled Bombori since 2017 and keeps a base about a kilometre away, collecting what it calls taxes and recruiting young men. Residents said its fighters had left the village during the night before the attack. Three of the men taken away and killed had at times helped the group collect those taxes, according to residents, but were not fighters.
What replaced the Wagner Group
Successive Malian governments have fought armed groups since 2012. After coups in 2020 and 2021 the military government expelled French and United Nations forces and drew closer to Russia, relying on the Wagner Group for security assistance. Wagner announced its withdrawal from Mali in June 2025, saying its mission was accomplished, and was replaced by the Kremlin controlled Africa Corps at roughly the same troop strength, including many former Wagner fighters and part of its senior command.
Letters setting out the findings and asking questions were sent to the Russian and Malian defence ministers on 4 and 5 August. Neither replied. Every party to the conflict is bound by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits the murder and cruel treatment of anyone in custody, and command responsibility can reach those who ordered nothing themselves.