Over the weekend, fierce fighting between Tuareg rebels and the Malian military, backed by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, was reported in the extreme north of Mali. The Russian mercenaries suffered dozens of casualties—the group’s largest loss to date inside Africa.
The photos act as a representation of JNIM’s training programs across the Sahel.
Several communities in Mali’s northern Menaka Region have turned to al Qaeda’s men in the face of extreme pressure and violence from the Islamic State’s local wing.
Over the last two weeks, al Qaeda’s West African branch has made a more concerted effort to advance closer to the Malian capital of Bamako.
This is the third such JNIM claim of responsibility for an attack inside northern Togo.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has sent a message of support to its fellow al Qaeda branch for recently killing five French soldiers.
In exchange for the release of dozens of imprisoned members from Mali’s prisons, Al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has freed four hostages, three of them foreign. JNIM has since celebrated the prisoner swap, including a personal appearance by its overall emir, Iyad Ag Ghaly, in northern Mali.
JNIM claims its first suicide bombing of the year on French troops in the Timbuktu region of northern Mali.
The attack in Mali’s northern Gao region is one of the deadliest in recent months.
Two recently released booklets by the al Qaeda group are likely meant to assuage tensions both within and outside its organization.
The al Qaeda group has claimed a series of attacks across the Sahel in recent weeks.
In addition to the prison break, JNIM also claimed two other recent attacks in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Amadou Kouffa, the leader of JNIM’s Katibat Macina, has been designated as a global terrorist by the US State Department.
Abu Abdul Rahman al Sanhaji’s death, if confirmed, follows the death of several other high-profile JNIM leaders over the past two years.
After killing at least 14 civilians in a landmine explosion last week, al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslim’s offers a rare apology.
JNIM took credit for last month’s suicide assault in Gao, Mali. According to the French, however, the attack was largely a failure.
The jihadist conglomerate, as suspected, claimed Sunday’s deadly siege on a military base in central Mali.
The claim has not been confirmed elsewhere, nor has JNIM commented on the event, but the French military has claimed a recent operation killed JNIM co-founder Yahya Abu al Hammam.
Over the weekend, al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed a series of attacks across Mali, continuing its recent uptick in activity. Most notably, the group took credit for a dubious suicide bombing attempt on French troops near the northern city of Timbuktu “Continuing its earlier vow to escalate its operations […]
In a statement released earlier today, Al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), which operates in West Africa and the wider Sahel, claimed Tuesday’s suicide assault on a Malian military base in the northern town of Tarkint. A photo of the purported suicide bomber was also released. “Continuing in its campaign against […]
Al Qaeda’s branch in Mali attacked a UN base earlier today, killing at least ten peacekeepers from Chad. The group says that the assault was part of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s global campaign, which rejects the “normalization” of Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited Chad today.
Abu Dujana al-Qasimi, the Saudi spokesman for Al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM), released a short audio message yesterday warning tribes in Mali not to cooperate with the “Crusader enemy.”
The ambush marks one of the deadliest attacks inside Burkina Faso, which is part of the growing jihadist violence inside the country.
Monday’s suicide bombing in Gao was the first claimed suicide bombing of JNIM since July.
The jihadist leader’s speech, while new, continued previous mantras used by JNIM and its predecessor organizations against the various armed militias operating in northern Mali.
As JNIM rallies its members and supporters against France and Mali, it depicts the fight with the two countries as part of al Qaeda’s wider global jihad.
The jihadist group claims the bombing, and last week’s bombing at the G5 Sahel base in central Mali, were messages to warn France and its allies about the “costs” of being in Mali.
The group said that four suicide bombers, rather than the previously reported two or three, were used in the April 14 suicide assault on the Timbuktu airport. Additionally, JNIM also denied claims of the use of female suicide bombers.
JNIM claims the brazen assault was in retaliation for the death of several of its commanders and fighters in recent French raids.
JNIM’s new video shows its fighters across Mali and even in Burkina Faso. The video also shows the group’s rising media capabilities.