Banned Russian Submunitions Found After Mali's Military Announces Airstrikes - bellingcat

Banned Russian Submunitions Found After Mali's Military Announces Airstrikes - bellingcat

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Sebastian Vandermeersch

Sebastian is a researcher at Bellingcat, specialising in terrorism and civilian harm in conflict. He has investigated violence and human rights abuses in the Middle East and West Africa. He previously worked at BBC Verify, the Centre for Information Resilience, and the International Criminal Court.

Trevor Ball

Trevor Ball is a conflict researcher and trainer at Bellingcat. He has worked on covering munitions used in conflicts, especially in incidents of civilian harm, and arms proliferation.

Banned Russian Submunitions Found After Mali's Military Announces Airstrikes

May 26, 2026

Africa

Africa Corps

Cluster Munitions

This investigation is a collaboration between Bellingcat and Jeune Afrique. You can read Jeune Afrique’s article in French here .

Unexploded Russian-made cluster munition bomblets, as well as damage consistent with bomblet impacts, have been found in a village in northern Mali – despite the West African country being a state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) which prohibits their use.

The deployment of cluster munitions in northern Mali was first reported by Radio France International last week, citing local sources yet without showing images of the munitions or strikes in the reporting. However, social media footage posted on May 17, and since analysed by Bellingcat and our publishing partner, Jeune Afrique, shows unexploded Russian manufactured ShOAB-0.5 submunitions (bomblets).

Bellingcat geolocated a video showing the unexploded ShOAB-0.5 bomblets in the village of Tadjmart (18.977305, 0.86072), located approximately 55-kilometers (34-miles) south of the larger town of Aguelhok in northern Mali. This matches the location of airstrikes announced by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) on May 17. FAMa claimed it had identified armed groups in the area.

A map detailing where the Tadjmart strike, signified by the red flame, was recorded. Courtesy MapCreator.

Russia’s paramilitary Africa Corps group, which is controlled by the Russian government and which replaced the Wagner mercenary group in the country, has been supporting Malian military operations.

Mali’s civil war has been ongoing since 2012. But the conflict has spiked in recent weeks as Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and militants from the al-Qaeda affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) seized control of parts of the country in coordinated attacks against Malian and Africa Corps forces.

Les mercenaires continuent de larguer des bombes sur des maisons et certains diront pourquoi se révolter contre ces genres des pratiques inhumaines ne respectant aucun Droit. https://t.co/5jynKwUgeW pic.twitter.com/nB3ym4yooc<br>— Mohamed Lilly (@MedLilly1) May 17, 2026

The footage geolocated by Bellingcat shows the unexploded submunitions near buildings, alongside multiple small craters, consistent with submunition explosions.

Left: Unexploded ShOAB-0.5 submunition found approximately 55 km south of Aguelhok. Right: ShOAB-0.5 Submunition. Sources: X and Armament Research Services.

The buildings and landmarks visible in the footage allowed us to geolocate where it was taken.

Geolocation of the video showing unexploded ShOAB-0.5 submunitions and the craters to the village of Tadjmart (18.977305, 0.86072). Sources: Airbus Imagery via Google Earth and X.

Additional footage geolocated by Bellingcat to nearby coordinates 18.97954, 0.85989 shows destroyed and burning buildings several hundred meters away, although this damage is not consistent with cluster munition use. The damage appears more significant than that which would be caused by submunition impacts.

Geolocation of the additional footage showing destruction several hundred meters away from where the submunitions were geolocated. Sources: Airbus Imagery via Google Earth and X.

Cluster munitions are explosive weapons which open mid-air to release large numbers of submunitions. They are prohibited from being used by signatories of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) because they are indiscriminate, saturate a wide area and can leave behind highly volatile unexploded bomblets which can kill civilians long after deployment.

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While Mali is a signatory to the CCM, Russia is not a state party to the agreement.

Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the US Program at the International Crisis Group, told Bellingcat that as a party to the CCM, Mali is “subject to its prohibitions and requirements. These include not only prohibitions on the use of cluster munitions, but also obligations to clear and...