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Controls intensified earlier this year after an airstrike in the remote, central Mali village of Bounti, which the French military said killed dozens of jihadists.
But local civil society groups and several witnesses said the airstrike struck a marriage and killed 19 civilians, making it a possible war crime. The area is known to be overrun by jihadists and impossible for journalists to access, making claims by both sides difficult to verify.
“All the testimonies indicate a blunder,” said Aguibou Bouaré, director of Mali’s National Human Rights Commission. Several international human rights groups and military experts also told The Telegraph that the reports of civilian casualties were credible.
Investigators from MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, have conducted an investigative mission on the ground and are expected to release a report in two weeks, but France has so far refused to release. images filmed by a drone before the strike or open its own investigation.
Dr Hamadoune Dicko, the young president of Mali’s largest Fulani association and the first to sound the alarm over the deaths of civilians in Bounti, is one of many to have called for the release of the drone images.
He lost a friend in the attack, Boura Iddara Diallo, a 46-year-old sheep trader whose nephew was going to marry, he said.
“We knew there was a wedding in Bounti. When the strike took place, my father called me to tell me that my friend had been killed in an airstrike. When jihadists are hit, we don’t say anything. But when it is civilians who are killed, we have to recognize it, ”he said.
For its part, France has pointed the finger at “foreign powers” for having disseminated false information.
“We’re not just talking about rumors spread by local players,” Ms. Parly said. “Russia and Turkey are used to using these methods.”
“We haven’t had a wedding. Two Mirages took off thanks to very precise intelligence and bombed a terrorist group, ”a French defense source told The Telegraph this week.
“We have seen false foreign account statements showing dead fighters who turned out to be Boko Haram victims dating back to 2014. The unverified allegations change whenever the French Defense Ministry provides more details, including fairly precise information on the location of the attack. This suggests that there is a clear desire to change the reality of the facts.
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