UN human rights investigators have indicated that Malian troops and foreign military personnel killed more than 500 people in a village in central Mali last year.

A new report says the killings in the village of Moura happened during an operation against a jihadist group.

After an exchange of gunfire, the villagers were rounded up and killed. Dozens of women were raped.

The foreign troops were described as white men speaking an unfamiliar language.

They're widely believed to have been members of the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, which is active in Mali.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk said the killings could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.