The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa claimed credit for a pair of suicide attacks. In one attack, five members of a suicide assault team assaulted a barracks in Agadez, killing 18 soldiers and a civilian. In another attack, a suicide bomber attacked workers at a uranium mine in Arlit.
The al Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa said the suicide attacks were intended to punish Niger for “cooperation with France in the war against Sharia” in Mali.
Global impact to Sahel terror
Jihadists have launched 12 suicide bombings and assaults in Mali since the beginning of February.
Malian Coup Leader Sanogo: ‘I Saved the Country’
Drone base in Niger gives US a strategic foothold in West Africa
Insight: Islamist inroads in Mali may undo French war on al Qaeda
France’s military operation in Mali in ‘final phase’
French Intervention in Mali Raises Threat of Domestic Terrorism, Judge Says
Al Qaeda targets French citizens abroad as no-go zones grow
Yahya Abu Hammam is al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s emir for the Sahel. He fought with GSPC, conducted several deadly attacks in Mauritania, and served as AQIM’s emir for Timbuktu.
Militant Threats Test Role of a Pentagon Command in Africa
France plays down report of ransom paid for Niger hostages
Al Qaeda silent on French hostages in Mali
France is sending special forces to protect the Areva uranium mining sites at Imouraren and Arlit. France derives about 20 percent of the raw material for its nuclear reactors from Niger. Some French forces are said to have arrived in the past week.
Sahel ulemas partner against extremism
‘Darker Sides’: The Vast Islamist Sanctuary of ‘Sahelistan’
In Mali, French Troops Step Up Role
Mali conflict: AU set to discuss troop deployments
Algeria attack mastermind targets Maghreb
Mali Army, Riding US Hopes, Is Proving No Match for Militants
Some Algeria Attackers Are Placed at Benghazi
How a pile of explosives I found in a Libyan field may have ended up in the hands of Algerian terrorists
‘Gates of Hell’: Mali Conflict Opens New Front in War on Terror
Abdul Rahman al Nigeri is leader of the special operations group in Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Those who Sign with Blood Brigade. He began his career in jihad with GSPC, and then joined al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
African troops bound for Mali as France battles militants
Analysis: Mali – one African war France could not avoid
Sahel security global threat, 8-14,000 Jihadists now in Mali, region, to double in year: Study
Several jihadists recruitment cells dismantled in the Maghreb
In Nigeria, trapped between Islamist radicals and security forces