In exchange for two kidnapped U.S. and Australian professors, the Afghan government freed dangerous Taliban and Haqqani Network leaders Haji Malik Khan, Anas Haqqani, and Qari Abdul Rasheed Omari.
Security in the southeastern Afghan province of Zabul continues to deteriorate as the Taliban presses it offensive there.
Amadou Kouffa, the leader of JNIM’s Katibat Macina, has been designated as a global terrorist by both 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.
Friday’s assault marks the Islamic State’s deadliest attack in Mali to date.
Yesterday’s tweets were the first sign of life for the group in over four years.
The Islamic State’s latest spokesman, a jihadist known as Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi, released a statement yesterday confirming Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death in an American raid and naming a new emir for the group. Baghdadi’s successor is a figure known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.
