BAMAKO, Oct. 19 -- Five girls, aged 10 to 13, were harvesting rice about three kilometers from Niono on the afternoon of July 12 when Malian soldiers opened fire and killed them. The soldiers later apologized to the families, saying they had mistaken the girls for attackers. As of mid-September, Human Rights Watch said on Monday, it knew of no investigation and no reparations.

The killings sit inside a report that holds almost every side of Mali's war to account. Human Rights Watch says the army and the Russia-controlled Africa Corps killed and wounded civilians in drone strikes and operations since July, and that Islamist and separatist fighters tortured and executed captured soldiers.

The trend line is in the strikes. Citing ACLED, a ...