Mali army probes civilian deaths blamed on soldiers

Mali's army said it's investigating soldiers who were accused by separatist Tuareg rebels of killing at least 24 civilians earlier this week, in a rare probe of human rights abuses since the military took power in 2020.

The Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the Tuareg independence movement in the north of the country, accused soldiers and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of intercepting two civilian transport vehicles bound for Algeria from Gao on Monday, and “coldly executing” at least 24 people among the passengers.

The general staff of the Malian armed forces, without referring to the killings, on Wednesday denounced “intoxicating campaigns” against the army.

On Friday, the authorities announced the opening of an investigation into the civilian deaths.

Mali has been in a crisis for more than a decade. In 2020, a military group, riding on popular discontent over attacks by armed groups, seized power in a coup that toppled the democratically elected president.

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