NEW YORK: Foreign mercenaries under contract to Mali's military government are expected to have performed a massacre of over 30 civilians in the country earlier this year,  a confidential UN report said.

The report, the DPA cited, which was authored by UN experts and has been submitted to the Security Council, describes an incident that happened in central Mali at the beginning of March and provides eyewitness accounts of "white-skinned soldiers" showing up in a Malian village on March 5's morning.

The report quoted a witness as saying, "The troops then round up the men and older boys, tied their hands behind their backs, and blindfolded them," adding that they were subsequently picked up in the centre of the village and the neighbouring homes were ransacked.

After that, it appears that the soldiers started beating the bound and blindfolded men with big clubs, while others closed the doors to the surrounding homes and told the women and kids to stay inside.

The witness said, "They could only hear the screams of the men as they were beaten." The witness added that up to 34 individuals, including 29 Mauritanians and four Malians, were hauled away after that and that the next day, their burnt bodies were found nearby.

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