Russia's Africa Corps mercenaries and Mali's army killed four civilians in the country's north this week and left one victim's dismembered body arranged into a swastika, according to French broadcaster RFI. Local residents and a Malian rights group say the dead were known herders with no ties to armed groups. The Malian army has not commented.

What residents found

The killings took place on 23 June near Zarho and near Abakoïra, three kilometers away, at the intersection of the Timbuktu and Gao regions, RFI reported. After a patrol of the Malian army and the Russian Africa Corps passed through, residents near Zarho found two bodies and a staged scene. One man's dismembered remains had been laid out as a swastika on the pale sand, his severed head ringed by his limbs. Near Abakoïra, a drone strike by the same patrol killed two young men on a motorbike. Riding motorbikes outside major towns has been banned since early June to limit armed groups' movement.

Civilians, not fighters

Local sources told RFI the four were civilians—two Tuaregs at Zarho, two Songhai at Abakoïra—herders whose identities were known and who had no ties to armed groups. The local human-rights collective CD-DPA condemned the killings as extreme cruelty that nothing could justify. Its secretary general, Tilla Ag Zeini, said the staging broke humanitarian law and was designed to terrorize the population.

"When you find a human being cut up to form a Nazi symbol, by a regular army, it's truly shocking," he told RFI.

Wagner, the mercenary group the Africa Corps replaced, was long known for Nazi references—down to its name, RFI noted. This is the first staging of its kind reported in Mali.

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The Africa Corps, which has posted frequently on social media since attacks on 25 April, has said nothing about the scene. Russian-backed forces in Mali have faced repeated accusations of killing civilians. Wagner's brutality is documented well beyond Mali. 

A separate claim

The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked coalition, claimed an attack the same day on a Malian army and Africa Corps convoy between Soribougou and Sibi Koro in the Kayes region. The jihadists claimed six dead and seized equipment. 

Russia is seeking to involve Laos in its war against Ukraine under the pretense of humanitarian cooperation, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) claimed on July 5.

According to the agency, Moscow is organizing the deployment of a combined unit of military engineers from the Lao People's Armed Forces to Russia's Kursk Oblast, allegedly to help with demining operations.

Ukraine initially captured 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of Russian territory during a cross-border offensive to Kursk Oblast but lost most of it during a Russian counteroffensive this year, which was supported by North Korean troops.

Laotian authorities have reportedly agreed to send up to 50 engineers to support Russian efforts. In addition, Laos is said to be offering free rehabilitation services to wounded Russian soldiers.

"Russia, under the guise of humanitarian rhetoric, is trying to legalize the presence of foreign military contingents on its territory, effectively using them to wage war against Ukraine," HUR said.

This comes amid broader efforts by the Kremlin to recruit foreign personnel. Russia has drawn heavily on fighters from Asia and Africa, as well as North Korea.

Ukraine has captured multiple foreigners fighting for Russian forces. an April investigation by Russian independent outlet Important Stories identified more than 1,500 foreign fighters from 48 countries who had joined Russia's war.

Laos, a landlocked Southeast Asian country bordering China, Vietnam, and Thailand, has not commented on HUR's claim. The country maintains close ties with both Moscow and its ally Beijing.