HRW urges Mali to investigate massacres

Human Rights Watch on Monday called on Mali to bring to justice jihadist and ethnic militants who killed more than 450 people in the centre of the war-torn country last year.

Massacres committed in the centre of the West African country amounted to "the deadliest year for civilians" since 2012, the NGO said in a report.

Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.

Despite the presence of foreign troops, the conflict has since spread to the centre of the country as well as neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Human Rights Watch pointed to the ethnic mosaic of central Mali as the "epicentre" of violence in the country.

"Armed groups are killing, maiming, and terrorizing communities throughout central Mali with no apparent fear of being held to account," said report author Corinne Dufka in a statement.

Ethnic killings increased in central Mali following the emergence of the ...