A statement released online today confirms that Mokhtar Belmokhtar is now the emir of Al Murabitoon, which calls itself “Al Qaeda in West Africa.” Another Al Murabitoon emerged in Egypt last month and it is also loyal to al Qaeda.
No group has yet to claim the assault, though attacking hotels frequented by foreigners is a common tactic of jihadists.
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.
AQIM denies that Mokhtar Belmokhtar was killed in US airstrikes earlier this month. The jihadists have now released five statements on the matter. Two of the statements deny Belmokhtar has been killed, while the other three imply he is alive. None of them say he is dead.
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 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 special forces raids killed an al Qaeda leader known for kidnapping and murdering Western hostages.
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.
A jihadist leader known as Adnan Abu Walid al Sahrawi has declared allegiance to the Islamic State. It appears that he has pledged fealty to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi on behalf of MUJAO, a jihadist group in West Africa. There is no indication that al Qaeda loyalists, such as Mokhtar Belmokhtar, have also defected.
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.
Militants launched a barrage of rockets into the UN base in Kidal, killing three and wounding twelve. An assault team attacked a nightclub in the capital of Bamako with hand grenades and small arms, killing five people and wounding several others. Al Murabitoon has claimed responsibility for the latter attack.
The rocket barrage has not yet been claimed, but al Qaeda-affiliated groups have launched similar attacks on the UN in the past. This comes one day after a terrorist attack, perpetrated by group loyal to al Qaeda, occurred in Mali’s capital.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s (AQIM) Uqba bin Nafi Battalion has claimed credit for an attack that killed four members of Tunisia’s National Guard. The group remains loyal to AQIM despite some claims that it had defected to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s Islamic State.
Suspected jihadists have hit the central Malian town of Teninkou and the northern town of Kidal in the last 24 hours. Four people, including a Chadian peackeeper, were killed.
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.
Despite a French-led counterterrorism operation in Mali and the Sahel, al Qaeda-linked violence continues to be a problem.
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.
A rebel group in Kidal in northern Mali captured an al Qaeda operative known as Meherig Jafar and transferred him to Malian security forces. Jafar is believed to be a deputy to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior leader in the al-Murabitoon Brigade, which is separate from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb but loyal to al […]
Mokhtar Belmokhtar said that Ayman al Zawahiri is his “emir” and jihadists must “confirm our confidence and our commitment to the method and guidance” to him.
Last night in Kidal, a sniper fired at police on a regular patrol, and an MNLA member was wounded allegedly by two jihadists on a motorcycle who fired at both the patrol and the MNLA; the MNLA blamed security forces for the incident. The al Murabitoon Brigade, a merger of Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s forces and the […]
French forces launched two nighttime raids in northern Mali against Islamist fighters linked to the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade; the two groups united in August to form the al-Murabitoon Brigade. Over 100 French troops took part in the recent operations near […]
Abu Usama al Ansari also describes Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar as the “Emir of the Believers.” His group, Ansaru, was added to the US’ list of terrorist groups on Nov. 13.
Al Jazeera has reportedly obtained an audio message from Adnan Abu Walid al Sahrawi in which he threatens to attack Morocco. Little has been heard from Sahrawi since May 2015, when he broke from Al Murabitoon and declared his fealty to the Islamic State. If the message is authentic, then it could indicate that he and his men plan on initiating new operations.
Abu Yahya al Hammam joins other Al Qaeda figures in Mali and the Sahara to have threatened France and its interests this year, including Iyad Ag Ghaly and a fighter from Al Murabitoon.
France says Abu Walid al Sahrawi, the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, was killed in a drone strike in August. Al Sahrawi became a key figure in the global rivalry between the Islamic State and al Qaeda. His men were responsible for the Oct. 2017 ambush near Tongo Tongo, Niger that killed four U.S. soldiers.
While JNIM has not claimed the assault, its Katibat Macina is widely suspected of perpetrating the attack. This comes after sustained operations against it in the area last month.
The ambush marks one of the deadliest attacks inside Burkina Faso, which is part of the growing jihadist violence inside the country.
Burkina Faso’s wanted list gives more information into the inner-workings and operations of Ansaroul Islam, a relatively under-researched and little understood al Qaeda-linked jihadist group.
Months after killing four US Special Forces soldiers, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has been designated as a terrorist group by the US government. Its leader, Abu Walid al Sahrawi, was also designated today.