An apparent Islamist armed group attacked a civilian convoy escorted by Malian armed forces and allied militias in northeastern Mali on February 7, 2025, killing at least 34 civilians and injuring 34 others, Human Rights Watch said today. The loss of civilian life underscores the need for all parties to the conflict to better protect civilians from military operations.
Witnesses said that in the early afternoon of February 7, Islamist fighters attacked a convoy of at least 19 civilian vehicles carrying over 100 civilians, mostly miners from Niger and traders from Mali, as they travelled from the towns of Gao to Ansongo, about 90 kilometers south, along a road where civilians had previously been attacked. At least five military pickup trucks and several motorbikes carrying Malian soldiers and militiamen escorted the convoy. Witnesses said that when the convoy reached the village of Kobe, the fighters opened fire on the convoy, and the soldiers and militiamen returned fire.
"The attack at Kobe demonstrates the deadly risks civilians in Mali face just going about their daily lives," said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Malian authorities should impartially investigate the incident to determine whether the attackers violated the laws of war and how their own security forces can better protect civilians at risk."
Human Rights Watch interviewed six witnesses to the attack, three people who assisted the injured, and several residents of Gao.
Witnesses said the convoy stretched along about one kilometer of the road with two military vehicles in the front and three in the back. "All of a sudden we heard gunshots, there was intense shooting," said a 51-year-old man who was injured as he jumped off a bus near the front of the convoy. "I felt something on my right thigh, then I saw blood, I lay down and played dead until soldiers rescued me."
A 50-year-old man, whose son, 20, and daughter, 10, were both wounded in the attack, said: "Bullets were flying over my head, terrorists were shooting and screaming 'Allah Akbar,' [and] people panicked and ran away. My son was shot in the buttocks and right thigh, my daughter in the legs and arms."
The attacking forces have not been conclusively identified. The Malian army chief of staff released an initial statement on February 7 saying that the attack on the convoy caused 25 civilian deaths, with 13 injured. The statement said that soldiers engaged in "violent combat" with the fighters and later recovered the bodies of "19 terrorists," as well as weapons and other equipment. The number of Malian soldiers and militiamen killed and wounded was not reported.
The attack occurred in an area where the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) armed group has been fighting Malian security forces for over a decade. The Islamist group has often clashed with Malian forces and fighters of the Russia-backed Wagner Group, which has supported the Malian government since December 2021. Witnesses and residents said that a week before the attack at Kobe, Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters attacked ISGS fighters along the same road, killing several and recovering weapons and money. They said the ISGS has been present along the road linking Gao to Ansongo for at least three years and often imposed illegal tolls on travelers.
The civilians killed in the attack included 13 Malian nationals and 21 foreigners, most from Niger, according to people assisting victims as well as victims' family members. The injured included 20 Malian nationals and 14 foreigners, also mostly Nigeriens. Human Rights Watch reviewed a list compiled by Gao residents with the names of the 13 Malian victims, including 5 women, ages 20 to 60.
Witnesses and other local sources said that attacks against civilians along this road had become so common that the military authorities in Gao imposed armed escorts with travelers since late 2024. Some residents, including traders who frequently journey along the road, expressed concern that the escorts blurred the lines between military and civilians, exposing the latter to increased risks of attacks.
"Soldiers just attract the attention of the armed groups," said a 45-year-old trader from Ansongo. "Military escorts are a danger for us because if the military is attacked then civilians can be caught in the crossfire."
Since 2012, successive Malian governments have fought at least two Islamist armed groups, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) and the ISGS. The hostilities have resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and the forcible displacement of more than 378,000 people. The departure of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in December 2023, at the request of Malian authorities, raises grave concerns about the protection of civilians and the monitoring of abuses by all sides.
Human Rights Watch has extensively documented widespread abuses by Islamist armed groups in Mali since 2012. It has also reported on violations of international law by Malian armed forces, allied ethnic militias, and Wagner fighters during counterinsurgency operations.
All parties to Mali's armed conflict are bound by international humanitarian law, notably Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and customary laws of war.
Under the laws of war, attacking forces must take all feasible precautions to minimize loss of civilian life and property. Attacking forces are prohibited from carrying out deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate attacks that use methods of combat that cannot be directed at a specific military target. An attack in which the expected loss of civilian life is excessive compared to the anticipated military gain is unlawfully disproportionate.
While the government forces and militia joining the convoy were legitimate military targets, the civilians and civilian vehicles were not subject to deliberate attack.
The Malian government should investigate the attack on the convoy to determine whether the ISGS forces carried out a deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate attack on civilians in violation of the laws of war.
The military and militia forces taking part in the convoy may have failed to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians and civilian vehicles under their control against the effects of attacks. Civilian police and security personnel that guard convoys would not normally be subject to attack.
"Given the countless atrocities committed by Islamist armed groups against civilians in Mali, it is understandable that the authorities want military escorts to guard civilian convoys," Allegrozzi said. "Malian authorities should consider alternative means to protecting civilians on the roads, such as using police escorts that are not lawful military targets."
