(Bloomberg) -- Russian fighters operating alongside Malian soldiers allegedly killed at least 300 people during a counter-terrorism operation last month, in what a U.S.-based watchdog described as the single worst atrocity committed during Mali's decade-long conflict.
Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that “White” fighters and Malian troops descended on the village of Moura, about 400 kilometers (249 miles) northeast of Bamako, Mali's capital, on March 27. Over the next four days, the forces killed hundreds of people -- some of them Islamist fighters, but mostly civilians -- in what Mali's government has described as an offensive against extremist groups that left 203 “terrorists” dead.
Unidentified security sources contacted by HRW said the operation involved “over 100 Russian troops and numerous other Malian soldiers,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday. HRW said it spoke to 27 people with knowledge of the killings.
Read: UN Probes Allegations of Russian Mercenary Rights Abuses in Mali
“Abuses by armed Islamist groups is no justification at all for the military's deliberate slaughter of people in custody,” said Corinne Dufka, Sahel director at HRW. “The Malian government is responsible for this atrocity, the worst in Mali in a decade, whether carried about by Malian forces or associated foreign soldiers.”
About 1,000 mercenaries from the Wagner Group, the Russian private military company, deployed last year in Mali, according to French and U.S. officials, though the Malian government denies they are in the country. The financier behind the group is believed to be Yevgeny Prigozhin, a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, according to the U.S. Treasury, and it's active in Ukraine and at least three other African nations including Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Russian Trainers
Concord, a St. Petersburg company run by Prigozhin, responded to an emailed request for comment by saying that Prigozhin has “nothing to do with any private military companies.” Prigozhin has long denied any links to Wagner.
A Malian army spokesman didn't respond to phone calls and a text message seeking comment. The government has previously denied any deployment by Russian military contractors. In December, it said that Russian trainers were present in the country.
The UN said on Monday its peacekeeping mission in Mali began an investigation following reports that civilians were killed in clashes between the Malian armed forces and militants.
“Preparations are underway to send a fact-finding mission to Moura,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN's secretary-general, told reporters.
French, U.S. and European Union officials said they were concerned by reports of violence against civilians by Malian troops and Russian forces, including at least two other massacres in recent months.
Read: UN Concerned About Civilians Amid Mali Militant Crackdown
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