Inside one of Mali’s worst massacres as Brit soldiers reveal horrifying reality of homes riddled with bullets

Peter JordanNINTCHDBPICT000690905137[/caption] THE first British troops to reach one of Mali’s worst massacres told of ditches smeared with blood and homes riddled with bullet holes. Soldiers from the Long Range Reconnaissance Group spoke of the horrors after gunmen slaughtered at least 50 men and teenage boys. Peter JordanThe UK’s Long Range Recce Group has a mission to protect civilians[/caption] Survivors said at least 60 heavily armed men on motorbikes rounded up the victims, aged between 14 to 40, from the village of Outtagouna and its surrounding areas. Hundreds of residents had fled in panic when the peacekeepers arrived. The victims’ bodies had already been buried but proof of the carnage was everywhere. Major Harry Willis, the company commander, said: “At first the villagers were scared but after a few days they started coming up to us and telling us what happened. “They had their sons, brothers, fathers and uncles slaughtered in front of them.” Corporal Charlie Jones, 28, from The 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, said: “You could still see bullet holes in the doors where they had gone from house to house. What happened was f bad.” In the nearby hamlet of Karou, gunmen forced their victims to stand beside a ditch before shooting them with assault rifles. Sgt Shaun Carson, from the Royal Military Police, said: “There had been a notional clear-up but you could see a bloody pile of rocks. You could see a shiny glaze.” Most read in News 'DISGUSTING' Former world's fattest man says hospital planned to cremate him in an ABATTOIR 'A MIRACLE' Amazing moment Cleo, 4, found SAFE after vanishing for 18 days as man arrested SCHOOL'S IN PM set to be BANNED from ordering Britain's schools to shut down ever again 'my name is cleo' First words of Cleo as she's pictured in hospital 18 DAYS after vanishing PUB ATTACK Woman who glassed Wetherspoons worker SACKED as dad moans about 'lost career' SEEING RED Locals furious as council paints driveways RED turning street into 'toy town' The Aug 8 slaughter was thought to be a revenge attack after two suspected terrorists were arrested in Outtagouna. No one has claimed responsibility for the bloodbath. More than 26,000 troops from over 60 countries have been sucked into landlocked Mali as part of five overlapping missions to tackle dizzying web of terrorists and armed groups. Together they are propping up a bungling military junta after two coups in 10 months saw Colonel Assimi Goita depose the country’s civilian interim president.Most of the British soldiers are on their first operational tour. Private Samuel Leek, 23, said the mission showed British young soldiers why they were there. “You could see that by us being there people felt a lot safer,” he said. “People started coming back and they didn’t want us to leave.” French President Macron slammed Goita’s government as “democratically null” and vowed to halve the size of his counter-terror mission, which is backed by four British Chinook helicopters. Col Goita responded by opening talks with Russian mercenaries Wagner to hire a 1,000 men to train his forces for $10million a month. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he was deeply concerned by the plans.