According to Human Rights Watch: "Two witnesses described the January 11, 2019 detention of 70-year-old, Issa Amadou Dicko, from Palal Sambo. His body was found the next day. One said, “Two trucks and motorcycles of uniformed soldiers came at 11 a.m. They searched the village, took four phones and ordered 20 of us to sit down. There were two elderly men, including Issa. A man dressed in boubou, his face covered, was working with the soldiers. He said, “that’s the one,” pointing at Issa. Then they ordered the rest of us into a house and left. A few hours later we got the call; Issa was found dead, near Birga Toiga, 10 kilometers away.” A witness from Arbinda said, “Last September, gendarmes took a good friend, a businessman, at night and we found his body behind Arbinda town the next day. His family and other families have told me they recognize the men doing this as gendarmes based in Arbinda.” Another witness described a conversation with the family of an artisanal gold digger who, they said, was questioned by gendarmes in Arbinda for several hours. “I found his body three kilometers away the next day,” he said. [...] 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." ^[+]