Malian armed forces arrested and killed around two dozen Fulani civilians who were rounded up at a livestock market in a central region of the West African country, a local activist told Reuters.
Women in the town of Diafarabe, where the incident took place, led a rare public protest on Wednesday over their disappearance.
"A survivor who managed to flee from Diafarabe alerted and said that they killed them, executed some of them, slit their throats and buried them in a mass grave," the activist said.
The activist, who could not be named for safety reasons, is close to Tabital Pulaaku, an international association that represents the Fulani people. The incident took place on Monday in a rural area on the banks of the Niger river, the activist said. The men were loaded onto a canoe and taken to an island cemetery, where they were killed.