The Malian army and fighters from the so-called Russian ‘African Corps’ killed four civilians in northern Mali and then left the dismembered body of one of the victims arranged in the shape of a swastika, according to a report on 24 June by Radio France Internationale (RFI) on 24 June, citing local residents and human rights activists.
According to RFI, the incident took place on 23 June near the villages of Zarkho and Abakoira, on the border between the Timbuktu and Gao regions. After a joint patrol by the Malian army and the ‘African Corps’ had passed through the area, local residents discovered two bodies, one of which had been dismembered and arranged in the shape of a swastika.
Two more young men, according to RFI sources, were killed near Abakoira when a drone struck their motorbike. The authorities recently banned the use of motorbikes outside major towns in the region.
The human rights organisation CD-DPA (Collective for the Defence of the Rights of the Azawad People) stated that all four of the deceased were civilians and had no connection to armed groups. The organisation described the incident as a “horrific atrocity” and accused the military of attempting to intimidate the local population.
Neither the Malian authorities nor representatives of the ‘African Corps’ have yet commented on the published photographs or the allegations.
RFI notes that the Wagner Group, which was replaced in Mali by the ‘African Corps’, has previously been repeatedly associated with the use of Nazi symbols. However, the incident involving a body arranged in the shape of a swastika was the first such documented incident in the country.
In 2019, *Novaya Gazeta* published a report suggesting that Russian mercenaries may have been involved in the torture and brutal murder of a Syrian national, Mohammed Tahi Ismail al-Abdullah. The editorial team managed to identify one of the perpetrators – 30-year-old Stanislav Dichko, who joined the Wagner Group in 2016.