This investigation is a collaboration between Bellingcat and Jeune Afrique. You may learn Jeune Afrique’s article in French right here.
Unexploded Russian-made cluster munition bomblets, in addition to harm in line with bomblet impacts, have been present in a village in northern Mali – regardless of the West African nation being a state social gathering to the Conference on Cluster Munitions (CCM) which prohibits their use.
The deployment of cluster munitions in northern Mali was first reported by Radio France Worldwide final week, citing native sources but with out exhibiting photos of the munitions or strikes within the reporting. Nonetheless, social media footage posted on Might 17, and since analysed by Bellingcat and our publishing accomplice, Jeune Afrique, exhibits unexploded Russian manufactured ShOAB-0.5 submunitions (bomblets).
Bellingcat geolocated a video exhibiting the unexploded ShOAB-0.5 bomblets within the village of Tadjmart (18.977305, 0.86072), positioned roughly 55-kilometers (34-miles) south of the bigger city of Aguelhok in northern Mali. This matches the situation of airstrikes introduced by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) on Might 17. FAMa claimed it had recognized armed teams within the space.
Russia’s paramilitary Africa Corps group, which is managed by the Russian authorities and which changed the Wagner mercenary group within the nation, has been supporting Malian navy operations.
Mali’s civil struggle has been ongoing since 2012. However the battle has spiked in current weeks as Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Entrance (FLA) and militants from the al-Qaeda affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) seized management of components of the nation in coordinated assaults towards Malian and Africa Corps forces.
Les mercenaires continuent de larguer des bombes sur des maisons et certains diront pourquoi se révolter contre ces genres des pratiques inhumaines ne respectant aucun Droit. https://t.co/5jynKwUgeW pic.twitter.com/nB3ym4yooc
— Mohamed Lilly (@MedLilly1) Might 17, 2026
The footage geolocated by Bellingcat exhibits the unexploded submunitions close to buildings, alongside a number of small craters, in line with submunition explosions.
The buildings and landmarks seen within the footage allowed us to geolocate the place it was taken.
Further footage geolocated by Bellingcat to close by coordinates 18.97954, 0.85989 exhibits destroyed and burning buildings a number of hundred meters away, though this harm isn’t in line with cluster munition use. The harm seems extra important than that which might be brought on by submunition impacts.
Cluster munitions are explosive weapons which open mid-air to launch giant numbers of submunitions. They’re prohibited from being utilized by signatories of the Conference on Cluster Munitions (CCM) as a result of they’re indiscriminate, saturate a large space and may go away behind extremely unstable unexploded bomblets which may kill civilians lengthy after deployment.
Assist Bellingcat
Your donations straight contribute to our skill to publish groundbreaking investigations and uncover wrongdoing world wide.
Whereas Mali is a signatory to the CCM, Russia is not a state social gathering to the settlement.
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the US Program on the Worldwide Disaster Group, advised Bellingcat that as a celebration to the CCM, Mali is “topic to its prohibitions and necessities. These embody not solely prohibitions on using cluster munitions, but in addition obligations to clear and destroy such munitions on its territory.”
ShOAB-0.5 submunitions are carried by the Russian RBK-500 cluster munition dispenser. A single RBK-500 dispenser can deploy about 565 ShOAB-0.5 submunitions. There’s as but no footage posted on-line exhibiting a spent dispenser linked to this incident.Footage did flow into on-line on Might 16 exhibiting the remnants of an RBK-500. It was claimed to have been utilized in a separate cluster munition strike within the Timbuktu area of Mali. Nonetheless, this footage was not geolocatable, given it solely exhibits an in depth up of the dispenser at night time, nor was it attainable to inform when the footage was taken.
A second video seems to indicate the identical dispenser, however exhibits the aspect with seen Russian markings denoting the mannequin: “РБК-500; ШОАБ-0.5; ТГ-30”. This identifies the dispenser, RBK-500, the submunition inside, ShOAB-0.5, and the explosive filler, TG-30.
RBK-500 dispensers are deployed by Russian-made plane together with a number of MiG and Su fashions. In accordance with the 2024 IISS Navy Stability report, Mali doesn’t have any identified operational Russian fixed-wing assault plane. Two Russian Su-25 plane delivered to Mali – one in 2022 and one other in 2023 – are reported to have crashed and been out of service since late 2023.
An Su-24M mannequin has since appeared in satellite tv for pc imagery captured at Modibo Keita Worldwide Airport in Bamako. The imagery was first printed by France 24 in April 2025, though it was unclear if this plane was, or has been, operated by Africa Corps or Malian forces.
Bellingcat contacted the Malian navy and Russian Ministry of Defence requesting remark, and asking which pressure was chargeable for deploying cluster munitions. We didn’t obtain a substantive response by publication time past the preliminary assertion made by the FAMa which detailed it was chargeable for the Might 17 strike.
A video posted on Might 17, by an account linked to Azawad rebels in Northern Mali, exhibits an individual dealing with elements of a ShOAB-0.5 submunition, seemingly unaware of the hazard. Nonetheless, because the video exhibits solely an in depth up of the submunition, it has not been attainable to geolocate the video or verify when it was taken.
Les Azawadiens ne fabriquent pas les armes au contraire ils les démontent ! pic.twitter.com/0tqOb6ut9G
— Oumayya AG Ambeiry (@AgOumayya) Might 17, 2026
The FLA condemned using cluster munitions in a assertion printed on Might 18.
Bellingcat has beforehand reported on using cluster munitions in Syria and Ukraine and the hazard they pose to civilians.
Youri van der Weide contributed to this report.
Bellingcat is a non-profit and the power to hold out our work relies on the sort assist of particular person donors. If you want to assist our work, you are able to do so right here. You can even subscribe to our Publication and comply with us on Bluesky right here, Instagram right here, Reddit right here and YouTube right here.
