Russian Africa Corps and Malian army forces killed four civilians in northern Mali this week, according to RFI reporting.
Local residents and Malian rights groups say victims were herders with no links to armed militant organisations.
The killings occurred on June 23 near Zarho and Abakoïra villages in Timbuktu and Gao region boundary area.
A joint patrol of Malian troops and Africa Corps fighters had earlier passed through the same area.
Residents later discovered two bodies and a staged scene showing extreme symbolic violence in the desert sands.
One victim’s dismembered remains were reportedly arranged into a swastika with the head placed centrally.
Near Abakoïra, a drone strike by the same patrol killed two young men on a motorbike.
Riding motorbikes outside major towns has been banned since early June to restrict armed group movement.
Local Tuareg and Songhai communities identified the four victims as civilians known as peaceful herders.
Africa Corps, successor to Wagner Group, faces repeated accusations of civilian killings and harsh counterinsurgency tactics.
Human rights collective CD-DPA condemned the killings as terrorising, while Russia-linked forces offered no comment.