Mali forces, Russian backers kill scores of civilians in drone strikes, report says
Human Rights Watch said 49 airstrikes by Malian forces and Africa Corps from April to August killed 89 civilians, more than double last year.
- On Monday, Human Rights Watch released a report stating Mali's armed forces and Russian Africa Corps allies utilized "apparent indiscriminate" drone strikes in counterinsurgency operations that killed scores of civilians in recent months.
- Mali's junta has ramped up airstrikes since April to combat Islamist and separatist insurgents; ACLED data show 49 strikes between April and August resulted in 89 civilian deaths, more than double the prior year.
- Attacks include a July 29 strike on a health center in Talahandak and an August 19 bombing at a Tombonkore cattle market that killed six men; witnesses said the drone surveilled the area for 30 minutes before striking.
- Beyond drone strikes, Malian soldiers killed five girls in Niono on July 12, while allied Dozo militia committed abuses in Djenné; the Malian Armed Forces chief of staff claimed on August 20 the military struck a "terrorist hideout" in Kilimpo.
- All parties to Mali's armed conflict are bound by international humanitarian law, yet the government has not opened investigations into these abuses or responded to an August 5 letter from Mali's defense minister.
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According to several sources, armed men on motorcycles attacked camps belonging mainly to the Daousshak community, creating displacements of people. The community's Executive Office attributed these attacks to IS More than 40 civilians were killed on Sunday in attacks by armed men in the Menaka region of north-eastern Mali, reporting security, local and associative sources to AFP on Monday.
These bloody attacks, carried out by armed men who arrived on motorcycles, targeted, according to these sources, several camps belonging mainly to the Daoussaka community, from which the armed movement "Movement for the Salvation of Azawad" (MSA), close to the ruling junta in Bamako, originated. The Daoussaka community's Executive Office attributed these attacks to the Islamic State organization (EIS), according to a statement issued on Monday. …
BT
Perpetrators arrived on motorcycles and began shooting at anything that moved in camps in Mali, sources say.
Reformatorisch Dagblad
Vanguard NewsMore than forty civilians were killed last weekend in attacks by armed men on camps in the northeastern Menaka region of Mali. This was reported by news agency AFP, based on sources within the security services and the local community.
These bloody attacks targeted camps belonging mainly to the community of Daousshak, from which the armed group "Movement for the Salvation of Azawad", close to the ruling junta in Bamako, originated, according to sources interviewed by Agence France-Presse.
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