Mali’s army says it’s investigating soldiers who were accused by separatist Tuareg rebels of killing at least 24 civilians earlier this week.

The Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the Tuareg independence movement based in the country’s north, accused the Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner Group mercenaries of intercepting two civilian vehicles bound for Algeria from the eastern Malian city of Gao and “coldly executing” at least 24 people among the passengers on Monday.

Mali's military government says it is investigating allegations that soldiers "coldly executed" at least 24 civilians in the north of the country on Monday. That claim was made by a separatist Tuareg rebel alliance,