HRW: Al-Qaeda-Linked JNIM Executed 12 Truck Drivers in Mali Convoy Attack

Overview

• Human Rights Watch said JNIM fighters killed 10 long-haul truck drivers and two teenage apprentices during a January 29 assault on a military-escorted fuel convoy in southwestern Mali.
• Witness accounts, geolocated video, and satellite imagery place the attack about 7 kilometers south of Ambidédi on National Route 1, with at least a dozen tankers burned.
• Bodies recovered on February 11 were reported blindfolded with hands bound and throats slit, and the military buried them the next day in the Kayes cemetery.
• Casualty figures remain contested, with HRW documenting 12 executions while Mali’s truck drivers’ union previously told Reuters that 15 were captured and killed, and six drivers are still listed as missing.
• JNIM previously said it targeted Malian troops, authorities have offered little public information, and the group’s months-long fuel blockade since September 2025 continues to drive severe shortages across the country.