BAMAKO: The Malian army said Monday that soldiers and civilians had been summarily executed during a Tuareg offensive in the town of Aguelhok, as France accused the killers of adopting Al-Qaeda-style tactics.

Tuareg rebels launched an offensive on Jan. 17 and have attacked several northern towns including Aguelhok as they demand autonomy for their nomadic desert tribe, a struggle which has seen rebellions in past decades.

Death tolls have been hard to establish independently, but France condemned the extrajudicial killings of some 82 people in the town on Jan. 24, which the Malian army confirmed.

“There were indeed summary executions on this day. People’s throats were cut, others were simply shot in the head,” said Colonel Idrissa Traore, head of the army’s information service.

He said civilians were among those killed, saying he believed these acts could only have been committed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.