An IED blast in the northern Malian town of Kidal has left seven Senegalese peacekeepers from the UN mission wounded. The attack follows a string of operations in central Mali by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Islamist militants killed a civilian and set fire to the town hall during an assault on the village of Djoura in central Mali. The country’s foreign minister appealed for international intervention in Libya to stabilize the neighboring country and stem the spread of terrorism in the region.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the assault on an army base in Nampala yesterday. Casualty figures from the attack have been updated to “at least eight dead.”
Jihadists attacked an army camp n the town of Nampala in central Mali, killing two soldiers and routing the rest of the military force; at least five people were killed. Six UN peacekeepers were wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in northern Mali on Jan. 4. The mayor of Anderaboucane in Gao and […]
Despite a French-led counterterrorism operation in Mali and the Sahel, al Qaeda-linked violence continues to be a problem.
Mayor of Mali town killed as clashes and abuses spike in north
France wants action on Libya, stops short of African calls for intervention
African leaders demand action in Libya
The Malian government announced that it traded four prisoners to AQIM to obtain the release of French hostage Serge Lazarevic last week. France’s defense minister said that “nearly 200 terrorists have been neutralized” by French forces in the Sahel region over the past year.
Serge Lazarevic: Mali confirms militants freed for French hostage
The French military killed Ahmed el Tilemsi, the co-founder of MUJAO, during a special operations raid in Gao in northern Mali on Dec. 11. France’s current Operation Barkhane “is taking place across Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad and involves a total 3 000 French troops.”
In a midnight raid in the Gao region of Mali, the French military killed Ahmed el Tilemsi. He had a long history of al Qaeda ties, and was wanted by the United States.
Serge Lazarevic, the last French hostage in Africa, has been freed. Lazarevic was kidnapped along with geologist Philippe Verdon by AQIM on November 24, 2011. Verdon was murdered by the jihadist group in July 2013.
Three Chadian peacekeepers were injured, one seriously, when their vehicle struck an IED close to the UN camp in Aguelhok on Dec. 2. Ten peacekeepers have been killed and 36 injured in northern Mali this year.
The Financial Times reports “[o]ne UN peacekeeper has been killed or wounded in Mali every four days on average since the organisation’s ‘blue helmets’ operation was launched there 18 months ago.” Jihadists have begun to use IED tactics honed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Suspected al Qaeda fighters kidnapped 10 children and killed two others who tried to escape near the towns of Aguelhoc and Kidal in northern Mali. The government has indicated that it is stepping up security after a suicide attack on Nov. 21.
In Mali’s desert French troops hunt al Qaeda well by well
A video of two hostages, Frenchman Serge Lazarevic and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke, was released by AQIM. Both men were kidnapped in Mali by the jihadist group in Nov. 2011. Lazarevic, the only French captive in the world, stated that his “life is in danger since France intervened in Iraq.”
According to an article in the Washington Post earlier this week, AQIM is leading the jihadist coalition in Mali.
Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda’s emir, helped stage a protest in front of the French embassy in Cairo today. The protesters denounced France’s intervention in Mali, saying the country was “at war against Islam.”
Robert Fowler, a Canadian diplomat who was kidnapped by Mokhtar Belmokhtar in 2008, considers Belmokhtar’s group to be ideologues. Fowler has also reportedly said that Belmokhtar was the “principal intermediary between AQIM and al Qaeda in Pakistan” at some point.