A series of massacres committed by ISGS militants in areas of Menaka state and another in Gao state, bordering the Niger border, left about 925 civilians dead between March and September 2022.
Massacres took place in Menaka on a large scale, according to the latest statistics: It all started on March 1, 2022, when the Islamic State assassinated an officer belonging to the Rescue of Azawad Movement in the town of tamalat Days later, the Rescue of Azawad movement responded by clashing with ISGS, which resulted in the death of Four (4) of its fighters and three of its ISIS fighters
ISGS’ violations against civilians began in tamalat locality on March 8, 2022, when 145 civilians were killed and the rest were forcibly displaced from the area. 45 civilians, and on the same day, March 26, they killed 30 civilians in Anshawadje, Gao state. August, ISIS attacked and seized the village of Tissi in the state of Gao and killed about 43 civilians.
Azawadiya civilians, activists and armed groups have reported alarmingly about these massacres since they began on 8 March. The dead belonged mainly to the Tuareg Dosahak tribe.
IS confirmed its attack inside Menaka, although it framed the killings against MSA fighters rather than primarily civilians.
The killings also represent the first major assault on the newly organized Sahel region by ISIS, an organizational restructuring of its forces in the Sahel away from the West African province and into its own Special Administrative Unit. The group was previously informally called the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
