The killing of at least 19 Malian soldiers in an attack by insurgents in the country’s north should be investigated as war crimes, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

On July 18, at least 50 Malian soldiers were killed in an attack on their convoy by Tuareg separatists and jihadists as they left the strategic northern town of Anefis, according to officials.

Amnesty said that after analysing 12 videos to help reconstruct the incident, there was evidence of war crimes committed in three videos which show a group of at least 19 Malian soldiers.

In the footage, “it is clear that the soldiers were hors de combat before being subjected to ill-treatment and killed in execution style”, Ousmane Diallo, Amnesty International senior Sahel researcher, said in a statement.

“Any person out of action, including soldiers taken prisoner or having surrendered, must be protected under international humanitarian law.”

In early July, fighters from the Tuareg separatist FLA and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) briefly captured the town of Anefis and encircled a military base used by the Malian army and Russian Africa Corps paramilitaries.

Mali’s army later regained control of the town.

The subsequent July 18 attack on a convoy leaving Anefis was claimed by both JNIM and the FLA.

Amnesty said two of the videos it analysed showed a white flag characteristic of JNIM.

One showed the Malian soldiers “walking in the desert with their hands behind their heads, clearly surrendering” while a close-up video showed the bodies of the same men.

“Another video shows a group of men on the ground and five armed men firing at them”, it said.

The Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law provide “absolute and unconditional protection for any hors de combat (person out of action)”, Amnesty said.

“Any killing, cruel treatment and attacks on their dignity would amount to war crimes”, it added.

The group called on the Malian authorities to carry out an “independent and impartial investigation” into the alleged war crimes.

The United Nations last week demanded an investigation into the overall killings.

JNIM and the FLA have carried out a series of attacks against Mali’s junta government in recent months, launching a major offensive in April in which they captured Kidal, a strategic northern town, and killed the troubled west African country’s defence minister.

Mali has been ruled by a military government since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

The junta has struggled to deliver on its promise to restore security after years of jihadist and separatist unrest.