Mali’s military and fighters from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group killed at least 34 civilians during operations between 2023 and 2025, Amnesty International said on Tuesday, accusing the forces of war crimes involving executions, torture and attacks on civilian communities.
In a new report, the human rights organisation documented seven incidents across Mali’s Ségou, Mopti and Timbuktu regions, where civilians were allegedly shot, had their throats slit or were burned alive.
Amnesty said none of the 34 victims were directly participating in hostilities when they were killed. Some were shot while attempting to escape, while others were executed after being detained.
The report said members of pastoralist communities, particularly ethnic Fulani, Arabs and Tuaregs, were disproportionately targeted because of their ethnicity or their presence in areas where armed groups operate.
Survivors described military patrols entering villages, detaining residents and destroying homes and property. One herder who fled to neighbouring Mauritania said soldiers and Wagner fighters treated pastoralists as suspected militants regardless of whether they had any connection to armed groups.
Torture and drone attacks
Amnesty also documented allegations of torture at military installations, where detainees described being beaten, subjected to electric shocks and simulated drowning, and suspended by their arms.
The organisation interviewed 15 torture survivors and gathered testimony from other witnesses who reported abuses against dozens of detainees. Five people reportedly died in military custody because of torture and poor detention conditions.
According to the investigation, Wagner personnel carried out most of the documented torture, sometimes in the presence of Malian soldiers who failed to intervene.
The report also examined two Malian military drone strikes in the Timbuktu region that killed at least 23 people, including five children, in 2025. Amnesty said it found no evidence of armed fighters or military objectives at either location and called for the attacks to be investigated as possible war crimes.
Mali’s military denies targeting civilians
Mali’s military-led government, which seized power following coups in 2020 and 2021, has repeatedly denied killing civilians during its campaign against armed groups.
Neither the Malian authorities nor Moscow immediately responded to requests for comment on the latest allegations.
Amnesty said it had submitted its findings to the Malian authorities on August 3 but received no response before publication.
The Wagner group, which deployed to Mali in late 2021, ended its operations in the country in June 2025. It was succeeded by Africa Corps, a Russian force that includes former Wagner personnel and operates under Russia’s Defence Ministry.
Amnesty called for independent investigations into the alleged atrocities, accountability for those responsible and greater transparency over the command structure governing Russian forces operating alongside Mali’s military.
