The Africa Corps carried out airstrikes in central Mali on June 15th, 2026, killing eight civilians, including three children under 11, Human Rights Watch (H.R.W.) reported last week.

The morning of the attack, two Malian military sources identified a Sukhoi Su-24 aircraft that attacked Kyrnia Village in the Mopti region of Mali. One munition struck the village chief’s residence, killing his wife and three children. The second struck a cattle market 20 meters away, killing four villagers. “The chief’s second wife was dead, and she had lost … her arms,” a bystander who talked to the H.R.W. said. “Then [we found] the [bodies of the] two children … and another boy who had been thrown by the explosion on the roof.”

Mali has suffered from armed-group violence for many years, with the last decade’s violence accounting for at least 2,000 civilian deaths according to the United Nations. Mali relied on French military assistance to help support the government, but after military coups in 2020 and 2021, Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goïta replaced French and United Nations forces in the country with the Russian-linked Wagner Group. The group was then rebranded as the Africa Corps after Yevgeny Prigozhin died in 2023 and it came under direct Russian control.

Attacks this April from an alliance of J.N.I.M. (Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims) and Tuareg separatists reached the capital, Bamako, and nearby military bases. The campaign was the largest and most coordinated from the group in more than a decade, following a period where the government lost large swaths of territory to rebels. This recent activity resulted in the Africa Corp acting more aggressively. In June, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed it was working with the Malian government to restore full control of the country following the April attacks, including the use of Su-24’s.

On June 23rd, the Africa Corps reported on social media that it had carried out a successful airstrike on a “gathering place of terrorist groups” in the Mopti region, killing several “field commanders,” and published videos of the strikes. H.R.W. geolocated the videos to Kyrnia. Witnesses within the village said about 100 J.N.I.M. fighters were in the village at the time of the strikes, most at the village mosque, some 150 meters from the strike. Witnesses also said no Islamist armed group fighters were known to be casualties.

The H.R.W. report states that, “The laws of war which apply to the armed conflict in Mali prohibit attacks that target civilians and civilian targets, that do not discriminate between civilians and combatants, or that are expected to harm civilians or civilian property that is disproportionate to any anticipated military advantage.” Because of the nature of this strike, the Malian government has a duty to investigate the incident and hold accountable all parties responsible for civilian casualties, including Africa Corp personnel. Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher for H.R.W., said, “By handing the Russian authorities a blank check, the Malian government should be aware that it too is accountable for allied forces’ atrocities.”

The Africa Corps has a history of human rights abuses in the region. Africa Defense Forum reported Africa Corps fighters regularly killing livestock, the primary means of subsistence for many communities. In one incident, two herders encountered the Malian Army and Africa Corps partners on a patrol. The herders were both shot, and one was dismembered and was found with his limbs in the shape of a swastika.

Despite major warnings from human rights organizations and civilians in areas where Africa Corps operates, the group still offers an enticing security option for authoritarians in the region. Russia can take gold and other resources from African nations, bypassing international sanctions, and recruit African nationals for its war with Ukraine. In return, African authoritarians receive advanced weapons and loyal mercenary soldiers.

Africa Corps differs from the Wagner Group, however, in its explicit connection to the Russian military chain of command, eliminating plausible deniability for human rights abuses like the strike on Kyrnia. This makes it easier for human rights organizations and international courts to keep Russian leaders accountable for those abuses if they were to see any justice.