Mali 's military and allied militias killed at least 31 civilians and burned homes on October 2 and 13, 2025, in 2 villages in the country's embattled Segou region, Human Rights Watch said today.
On October 2, Malian army forces and the Dozo, a predominantly ethnic Bambara militia that has been taking part in counterinsurgency operations for a decade, killed at least 21 men and burned at least 10 homes in Kamona village. On October 13, these forces killed 9 men and one woman in Balle village, about 55 kilometers away. The two villages are in a central Mali region controlled by the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, or JNIM). Witnesses said soldiers and Dozo militias summarily executed the villagers after accusing them of collaborating with JNIM.
"The October massacres in Segou region are just the latest atrocities attributed to the Malian army and allied militias," said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Malian authorities should credibly and impartially investigate these killings and hold those responsible to account in fair trials."
Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 people with knowledge of the incidents by phone in October, including 5 witnesses and 5 community leaders, civil society activists, and journalists. On November 8, Human Rights Watch wrote to Mali's justice and defense ministers with its findings and questions but has received no replies by the time of publication.
Witnesses said they identified the soldiers by their camouflage uniforms and the Dozo by their traditional attire and amulets around their necks.
On October 2, at about 10 a.m., soldiers, on at least seven pickup trucks and three armored vehicles and Dozo militiamen on motorbikes entered Kamona and began searching for male villagers. Witnesses said JNIM fighters had alerted residents that the military was coming, leading many residents to flee.
"Those who could not flee were rounded up and executed," a survivor told Human Rights Watch.
Witnesses said that JNIM fighters fled the village before the military arrived and that there was no confrontation between the two sides.
Witnesses believe the killings, which media reports corroborated, were linked to recent JNIM attacks in Segou region, including one that destroyed the sugar production plant in Siribala on August 8.
Villagers later found 17 bodies under a tree in the village and 4 more on the northern side of Kamona. They said the soldiers burned at least 10 huts and 3 sheds belonging to ethnic Fulani residents.
A 40-year-old herder who hid in an abandoned home with his 9-year-old daughter said that when the assailants left, at about 4 p.m., he found the 17 bodies. "The people had been sprayed with bullets," he said. "One had his head completely smashed. I also saw several bullet casings next to the bodies."
Another man, 39, said he helped bury the bodies. "We dug a mass grave under the tree and put the 17 men inside," he said. "Further north, we found 4 more bodies. All had been shot in the stomach and head, so we dug another grave, put them inside, and covered them with sand."
Villagers provided a list of the 21 victims, all men, ages 20 to 65. They believe soldiers killed more people during the attack. "We heard that at least 15 other men were killed in the bush that day," said one villager. "But we didn't go there to verify as we were afraid the military would return."
On October 13, at about 1 p.m., Malian soldiers on 5 pickup trucks and Dozo militiamen on at least 30 motorbikes entered Balle village, causing some residents to flee. "I didn't flee immediately, but when I saw soldiers going door to door and slapping and kicking men, I ran away," a 24-year-old man said. "From my hiding place, I heard gunshots."
Witnesses said that the soldiers and Dozo militiamen killed 10 civilians, including a 55-year-old woman, and 9 men, ages 22 to 67, and stole at least 100 cows.
A 33-year-old man said that after the attack, he found the 10 bodies in the middle of the village. "They were one by the other, riddled with bullets," he said. "Some had their legs and arms broken."
The 21-year-old daughter of the woman who was killed said her mother shouted at soldiers, accusing them of abusing villagers. "She walked toward the soldiers," she said. "So they took her where the men had been rounded up and shot her."
In an October 14 statement, the Malian army's chief of staff said that on October 13, soldiers conducted an "offensive recognition" operation around Balle resulting in the "neutralization of about 20 terrorists," and the seizing of military equipment.
Witnesses and residents said that Balle has for several years been under JNIM control. "We pay the zakat [Islamic tax] every year," said a man. "If there are disputes, the jihadists settle them. There are no soldiers, no gendarmes, no police here. As a result, the army assumes we're JNIM fighters. The army doesn't differentiate between us and them."
Since 2012, successive Malian governments have fought armed conflicts with various Islamist armed groups. The hostilities have resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and have forcibly displaced over 402,000 more. Human Rights Watch has documented grave abuses by the Malian armed forces and allied militias and mercenary groups during counterinsurgency operations, as well as atrocities by JNIM and other armed groups.
The military assaults on civilians in the Segou region took place after JNIM began a siege of Mali's capital, Bamako, in early September. The siege has cut off fuel supplies to Bamako and prompted the military junta to temporarily shut down all schools and universities across the country.
All parties to Mali's armed conflict are bound by international humanitarian law, notably Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and customary laws of war. The laws of war prohibit attacks directed at civilians, as well as murder, cruel treatment, and torture of anyone in custody. Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent or are responsible as a matter of command responsibility may be prosecuted for war crimes.
Although Mali withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in September, the country is still party to the court's Rome Statute until September 2026. In January 2013, the court opened an investigation into alleged war crimes in Mali since 2012.
The African Union (AU) has largely failed to respond effectively to the worsening conflict in Mali, despite its mandate to promote peace and security, Human Rights Watch said. While the security situation has deteriorated in recent months, the AU Peace and Security Council has offered little more than statements of concern.
"The AU Peace and Security Council should make the conflict in Mali a priority," Allegrozzi said. "It should hold regular briefings, strengthen diplomacy, and coordinate regional and international action to strengthen accountability for abuses by all sides."
