According to Human Rights Watch: "Three victims described how a man with a mental disability was shot and killed and scores of other men were severely beaten during a large operation on October 18, in Bouro village, Nassoumbou commune. The incident occurred hours before an armed Islamist attack on the Gendarmerie in Djibo, 40 kilometers away. This is the other operation documented by Human Rights Watch that occurred outside the 50-kilometer radius of Arbinda town. The victims said the security forces detained and took some 100 men to the Djibo army base, the vast majority of whom were liberated the following day. One victim, said, “They hit us like they were beating a snake to death. A few men were bleeding from their heads or noses; I heard the wrist of another cracking; a few lost consciousness.” Another victim, aged 76 years, said: I never thought, given my age, that I would feel a beating like this. The army arrived at 1 p.m., firing madly. A crazy man who didn’t understand what was going on started running and a soldier picked him off – paf—just like that. They started beating us with belts, tire rubber, batons, and cords attached to their wrists. I was beaten in my ribs; another took a baton, lifted it above his head and whacked me. Later, we were taken to Djibo camp. They counted us, we were 102. They kept us in a small house – it was sweltering hot; some men fainted from the heat. The next morning the army took us out…calling us one by one and as we left the door, a tall soldier, kicked us, making us fall down, then others started hitting us, saying, “uh huh, the Peuhl are crying now." [...] Witnesses to all but one of the incidents described above said the alleged perpetrators were dressed in dark yellow and brown camouflage uniforms which, as noted, is worn by members of both the gendarmerie and army. “It can be confusing; the gendarmerie and the army use the same uniform in some theaters of operation,” one security force officer noted." However, on the basis of interviews with the witnesses, security sources, and community leaders representing the major ethnic groups present in Soum Province, Human Rights Watch believes the majority of incidents described above were perpetrated by a detachment of gendarmes who, in August 2018, had been deployed to the town of Arbinda to respond to the growing number of armed Islamist attacks, including many of those which targeted civilians and are described above." ^[+]