The attack is the second in June to take place near the border with Ivory Coast and the second in two days in the lower half of Mali. These attacks come after the government and the main Tuareg rebels in the north have agreed to a peace deal.
The assault comes just days after rebel Tuareg groups signed a peace deal with the Malian government.
The Islamic State again shows the use of the US anti-tank missile system, after previously doing so near Palmyra and Damascus. Other jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, have also publicized the use of TOWs in the past.
More than 50 troops from Burundi are reported to have been killed. The attack comes just one week after Shabaab killed at least 60 Ethiopian troops in another attack in southern Somalia.
The simultaneous offensives follow recent Kurdish gains in Raqqah province, the proclaimed “capital” of the Islamic State.
The video, which is intended to show the hostages are still alive, shows the captives speaking to their respective governments and families.
While neither Ethiopia nor the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have commented on the attack, the released photos buttress the jihadist group’s claims.
Al Qaeda’s official branch in Somalia continues to be a threat inside Somalia and to neighboring countries, despite an ongoing African Union mission in the country that has driven the group from many of its strongholds.
The suspected Boko Haram attacks in both Niger and Chad continue to demonstrate that the jihadist group is a threat to regional stability and not just Nigeria.
The attack in southern Mali, which is a rare occurrence, is part of the trend of increased jihadist attacks in the central and southern portions of the country.
The jihadist group, which has published pictures of BGM-71 anti-tank missiles before, again shows the usage of these weapons at Palmyra. Many of these systems have been employed by jihadist groups or have been used to assist jihadist groups.
The new propaganda film focuses on several Balkan fighters, as well as the events in the Balkans in the 1990’s. The video is just the latest attempt to showcase foreign fighters within its ranks.
The video features footage from recent fighting near the town of Karmah, just northeast of Fallujah.
The attacks targeted a UN base and a UN convoy, which included the heads of the UN’s military and police forces in Mali, near the city of Timbuktu. The claims come after conflicting reports from a Mauritanian news agency that first reported Al Murabitoon claimed the attacks.
The capturing of the Iraqi side of the Al Waleed border crossing comes just days after the jihadist group captured the Syrian side.
The fall of the strategic location means that the Syrian regime has lost control of all crossings with Iraq.
After taking the city of Tadmur, the Islamic State has released both photographs and videos from the highly strategic city.
The special forces raids killed an al Qaeda leader known for kidnapping and murdering Western hostages.
With victory over Assad’s forces at the military camp, the al Qaeda-led coalition continues to overrun regime positions in Idlib province.
The audio, which features Al Douri discussing recent events, refutes reports that he was killed last month in the Hamrin Mountains.
The statement also confirms that he and his group, the Al Mulathameen Brigade, are still loyal to Zawahiri and al Qaeda. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify the statement’s authenticity.
The new video shows the group’s role in the recent fighting at Jisr al Shughur. The Turkistan Islamic Party has long fought in Syria alongside the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria.
The jihadist group shows more fighting that has taken place at the facility. It is unclear when some of the footage was recorded, as some scenes have been previously featured in photo reports. While the Iraqi Security Forces have claimed to have regained control of the refinery after a recent Islamic State offensive, attacks are still occurring at the complex.
Footage shows the jihadist group battling Iraqi Security Forces in the Al Sufiyah area of Ramadi. The area is said to be “75 percent” cleared, but fierce fighting is still ongoing.
Many jihadist groups, including those within al Qaeda’s network in Syria, have published videos of their forces celebrating in or near Jisr al Shughur in Idlib province.
The Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated group that also operates in Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, operates in Syria under the moniker “Katibat Turkistani.”
The explosion killed three civilians and left 16 wounded, including nine Nigerien UN peacekeepers. The group said that it was directly targeting Nigerien troops because of Niger’s president Mahamadou Issoufou’s response in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
Two children fire a howitzer towards Iraqi Security Force positions in the Baiji oil refinery. Prior to this video, the Islamic State has shown kids conducting and assisting in executions. They are part of the “Cubs of the Caliphate,” which is what the jihadist group calls those children it trains in various training camps in Iraq and Syria.
In a new video from Baiji, the Islamic State highlighted the use of a drone to gather intelligence for its “operations control room” directing the fighting at the oil refinery complex. The jihadist group has showcased the use of drones before, most notably at the Brigade 93 base in Raqqah last summer.
Dutch national Sjaak Rijke has been freed from captivity after being held in Mali since 2011. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al Qaeda’s official branch in North Africa, is still believed to be holding two other men captured with Rijke in Timbuktu.