Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into the alleged execution of at least 19 Malian soldiers captured during a recent attack in northern Mali.
The rights group said on Wednesday that evidence from videos it analysed suggested that the soldiers had surrendered and were subsequently subjected to ill-treatment and killed.
At least 50 Malian soldiers were reportedly killed on July 18 when Tuareg separatists and jihadists attacked a military convoy leaving the strategic northern town of Anefis, according to local officials.
Amnesty said it examined 12 videos to reconstruct the incident and found evidence in three of them indicating possible war crimes.
“It is clear that the soldiers were hors de combat before being subjected to ill-treatment and killed in execution style,” Amnesty International’s senior Sahel researcher, Ousmane Diallo, said.
He stressed that international humanitarian law protects soldiers who are no longer taking part in hostilities, including those who have surrendered or been captured.
The attack was claimed by both the Tuareg separatist FLA and the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), which have intensified attacks against Mali’s military government in recent months.
Amnesty said two of the videos it reviewed showed a white flag associated with JNIM. One video allegedly showed Malian soldiers walking through the desert with their hands behind their heads in an apparent surrender, while another showed what appeared to be the bodies of the same men.
A separate video reportedly showed several men lying on the ground as armed individuals fired at them.
The rights organisation said any killing or cruel treatment of individuals who are hors de combat could constitute a war crime and urged Malian authorities to conduct an independent and impartial investigation.
The United Nations also called last week for an investigation into the wider killings.
The violence comes amid growing insecurity in Mali, where the military junta has struggled to fulfil its pledge to restore stability following years of jihadist and separatist insurgencies.
Mali has been under military rule since successive coups in 2020 and 2021, while armed groups have continued to launch attacks across parts of the country.
