The group known as GSIM killed at least 32 people, including three children, in attacks on January 27 in the villages of Ogota and Ouémbé.

An extremist group linked to Al-Qaeda carried out massacres in two villages in central Mali in January, Human Rights Watch said in a report Wednesday, in an apparent war crime that caused thousands of people to flee their homes.

The group known as GSIM killed at least 32 people, including three children, in attacks on January 27 in the villages of Ogota and Ouémbé, and burned more than 350 houses, the report said , citing villagers who described the carnage as ethnically motivated. The report also documents another incident in which an ethnic armed group killed 13 people and kidnapped 24 civilians in two other villages in central Mali on January 6.

Malian authorities must act to end the deadly cycles of violence and revenge killings and better protect threatened civilians.