LONDON (Dispatches) -- An investigative report released by the London-based international law firm Stoke White documents that French airstrikes bombed a wedding, resulting in the killing of at least 19 civilians, in a village in central Mali last January.
The report contradicts the French dismissal of civilian fatalities and supports UN findings released last March. On January 3, 2021, about 100 men and teenagers gathered in the village of Bounti in central Mali for a wedding. They prayed together and took shelter under trees in the semi-desert region. An hour later, French airstrikes hit, killing 19 civilians.