Al Qaeda maintains operational tempo in West Africa in 2017
At least 276 attacks in Mali and its neighboring countries were linked al Qaeda in 2017. This includes a significant shift of violence to central Mali, as well as northern Burkina Faso.
At least 276 attacks in Mali and its neighboring countries were linked al Qaeda in 2017. This includes a significant shift of violence to central Mali, as well as northern Burkina Faso.
Al Qaeda’s JNIM remains a potent threat to both Malian and UN forces inside Mali. In addition, Ansaroul Islam, a Burkinabe jihadist group linked to JNIM, continues to terrorize Burkina Faso’s northern Sahel region.
US AFRICOM has confirmed that three US Special Forces troops have been killed in an ambush near Mali. The three are the first American soldiers to die in combat in the country.
The attacks represent a significant increase in jihadist attacks in northern Burkina Faso. In addition, the use of improvised explosive devices, previously unknown to the country, is on the rise.
US Africa Command launched airstrikes against the Islamic State in Libya for the first time in eight months. AFRICOM also revealed to FDD’s Long War Journal that an estimated 800 to 900 Islamic State fighters were killed during Operation Odyssey Lightning’s air campaign in Sirte last year.
On Aug. 31, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind’s leader, Zakir Musa, released an audio message in which he criticized the Pakistani government for supposedly betraying the jihad in Kashmir. Musa’s critique is consistent with al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s “code of conduct.”
Mullah Mustafa, a Taliban commander who was targeted by the US military in an airstrike nearly a decade ago and who has links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp – Qods Force, remains a key player in the insurgency in central Afghanistan. He was involved in the Taliban takeover of a district in Ghor.
The al Qaeda group continues to target French forces in northern Mali, as well as conduct attacks on Malian and UN troops elsewhere in the country.
The US military identified seven senior Islamic State propagandists and facilitators killed in coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria this year. One of them, Rayaan Meshaal, founded Amaq News Agency, one of the group’s most important propaganda arms.
The Islamic State’s so-called Sinai province launched a lethal assault on an Egyptian military outpost in the northern Sinai earlier today. It may be the deadliest attack on Egyptian forces in the peninsula since July 1, 2015. More than 20 soldiers, including several officers, were reportedly killed.
Yesterdays assault near Bamako is yet another instance of the jihadist group targeting popular resorts in West Africa.
On June 15, the State Department designated three Islamic State operatives as terrorists. The designations underscore the global nature of the self-declared caliphate’s threat, as two of the men have been responsible for a number of plots in Europe and India. The third has repeatedly attempted to convince his fellow Bahrainis to join the group’s cause.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for its first operation inside Israel earlier today. However, Hamas quickly disputed the self-declared caliphate’s claim, saying that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s loyalists were merely attempting to confuse the media. According to Hamas, two of the attackers were sent by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the third by Hamas.
Today, Tasnim News Agency – a propaganda outlet affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – posted photos of Qods Force chief Qassem Soleimani, allegedly by the Iraqi border in Syria. The precise location and date of the photo are unconfirmed.
The video comes as the crisis in Marawi enters its second week. The video details Islamic State-loyal fighters destroying religious symbols and vandalizing the inside of the church.
The raid, which occurred last year, was a joint operation that included several al Qaeda groups in Mali. The video is likely meant to show that the raid was a precursor to the merger that would from the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
CENTCOM announced today that “three senior foreign fighters” in the Islamic State were killed in recent weeks. Two of them were reportedly involved in the group’s “external operations” and one of them was a trainer in the “Cubs of the Caliphate” program, which indoctrinates youth. The third jihadist helped oversee the Islamic State’s use of small drones.
International authorities are investigating the possibility that a “network” assisted Salman Abedi in the Manchester Arena bombing earlier this week. The investigation stretches from the UK to Libya, where Abedi’s younger brother and father have been detained. His brother, Hashim, has allegedly admitted prior knowledge of the plot and that the siblings were Islamic State members.
Al Qaeda’s newly formed entity, the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims, have perpetrated a multitude of attacks in Mali and elsewhere in West Africa this year. This represents a major security threat for the region.
As the siege continues into its second day, thousands of civilians have been forced to flee and martial law has been declared inside Marawi city.
The clashes are currently ongoing, but pictures circulating online appear to show jihadist forces openly moving about the city. At least one policemen is reported killed and five soldiers wounded so far.
The suicide assault left at least seven dead, another 17 wounded, and a further 16 missing. This comes just a week after another eight Malian troops were killed in an ambush in southern Mali.
Islamic State gunmen shot and killed at least one Egyptian policeman near the Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the southern Sinai late yesterday. Several others were reportedly wounded. The group’s Sinai “province” is waging a low-grade insurgency against the Egyptian government and claims to have executed scores of attacks this year.
The attacks targeted Malian troops, UN peacekeepers, and Bambara militiamen. In one coordinated assault in the Timbuktu region, it also clashed with French forces.
The Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al Qaeda’s new group in West Africa, claimed an ambush on French troops in central Mali near the borders with Burkina Faso. Additionally, it also claimed launching Grad rockets into a French base in northern Mali.
The eighth edition of the Islamic State’s Rumiyah magazine features a cover story on Ahmad Abousamra, who was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List in 2013. Abousamra was the “chief editor” of Dabiq, the Islamic State’s English-language magazine, and also one of al Qaeda’s fiercest rhetorical opponents. He described al Qaeda’s leaders and pro-al Qaeda ideologues as the “Jews of Jihad.”
The US military announced today that a senior Islamic State propagandist, Ibrahim al-Ansari, was killed in an airstrike in Al-Qaim, Iraq on Mar. 25. Al-Ansari “was a leader in producing and disseminating propaganda to direct, encourage and instruct terror attacks, as well as to recruit foreign terrorist fighters,” a US military spokesman said. Al-Ansari also “promoted terror attacks against US and Turkish citizens” and was responsible for “the brainwashing of young children to perpetuate ISIS’s brutal message.”
The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, al Qaeda’s newly formed entity in West Africa, claimed a series of attacks today. One claim discussed its role in the recent communal violence between Fulani herders and Bambara farmers in central Mali.
The Pakistani Taliban confirmed today that Qari Muhammad Yasin, a senior al Qaeda military commander, was killed along with three of his “companions” in a US drone strike on Mar. 19. The airstrike was carried out in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province. Yasin was a member of the Punjabi Taliban, which includes jihadists from various other Pakistani terrorist organizations who are aligned with al Qaeda.
The death of Qari Muhammad Yasin, an experienced Pakistani jihadist, has not been confirmed by the US or jihadists operating in the region. He was targeted in an area of Afghanistan known to serve as an al Qaeda safe haven.