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Islamic State claims assault on airport in Niger’s capital
The Islamic State has officially claimed last week’s assault on Niger’s Diori Hamani International Airport in the capital of Niamey, which also hosts the military Air Base 101. Niger claims the assault was repelled, with Russia’s Africa Corps mercenary group also taking credit for the defense.
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Tehran threatens snapback retaliation, raises fears of war with Israel
Reacting to Europe’s decision to initiate snapback, the reimposition of pre-2015 UN sanctions, officials and state media in the Islamic Republic issued vague threats of retaliation. While some voices have acknowledged that snapback could pave the way for war, others are downplaying its impact in an effort to prevent public panic and preserve regime morale, a contrast that suggests Tehran is bracing for the possibility of escalation.
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French forces report killing Al Qaeda veteran in Mali
France says its forces killed Yahia Djouadi, a senior veteran of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, inside northern Mali. The raid comes after France and its European allies are set to withdraw from Mali.
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Generation Jihad Ep. 62 — An Update on the African Jihad
Host Bill Roggio is joined by Caleb Weiss — a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation and long-time contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal — for an update on the latest surrounding various jihadist groups across the African continent.
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Al Qaeda field commander reported killed in Mali
Local Malian sources report that the emir of Katibat Gourma, a sub-unit of Al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), was killed in a French operation in northern Mali yesterday. France has confirmed it targeted Katibat Gourma, but the death of its emir is not yet confirmed.
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France says drone strike killed leader of Islamic State in Sahara
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.
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Al Qaeda figure tied to kidnappings reported killed in Mali
Baye Ag Bakabo is linked to several of AQIM’s kidnappings in Mali, including the operation that left two RFI journalists dead in 2013.
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AQAP congratulates JNIM for attacks on French soldiers
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has sent a message of support to its fellow al Qaeda branch for recently killing five French soldiers.
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Ep. 41 — The Jihad in West Africa
Caleb Weiss joins Tom and Bill to discuss France’s intervention in West Africa. Branches of both Al Qaeda and ISIS are fighting for territory, but France’s patience may be starting to wear thin.
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Ep. 39 – Countering Extremism
Robin Simcox joins hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio to discuss the ongoing jihadist threat in Europe and efforts to combat extremism in the U.K. and elsewhere. Simcox is the director of the London-based Counter Extremism Group.
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JNIM targets French troops in suicide assault
JNIM claims its first suicide bombing of the year on French troops in the Timbuktu region of northern Mali.
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Senior JNIM leader reportedly killed by France
Abu Abdul Rahman al Sanhaji’s death, if confirmed, follows the death of several other high-profile JNIM leaders over the past two years.
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Niger military base raided by the Islamic State
The Islamic State’s men in the Sahel claims another large-scale attack on Nigerien troops near the borders with Mali.
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Islamic State claims attacks on American, French forces in the Sahel
The Islamic State’s men in the Sahel have claimed a recent IED on US troops in Niger, as well as downing a French helicopter and assassinating a Tuareg militia member in Mali.
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France reports major security operation in central Mali
French forces reportedly killed dozens of jihadists after a three-week long operation in central Mali.
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JNIM takes credit for dubious suicide bombing in Timbuktu
Over the weekend, al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed a series of attacks across Mali, continuing its recent uptick in activity. Most notably, the group took credit for a dubious suicide bombing attempt on French troops near the northern city of Timbuktu “Continuing its earlier vow to escalate its operations throughout Mali against the French Crusader occupation and its tails in the region, and after the monitoring and surveying a regular patrol of the French army in Timbuktu city, the heroic seeker of martyrdom Abdullah al Barboushi al Ansari was able to detonate his car…
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JNIM spokesman warns tribes in Mali
Abu Dujana al-Qasimi, the Saudi spokesman for Al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM), released a short audio message yesterday warning tribes in Mali not to cooperate with the “Crusader enemy.”
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AQIM emir confirms death of jihadist commander in Mali
AQIM leader Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud has confirmed that Almansour Ag Kassam (Almansour Ag Alkassoum), an important jihadist who worked with several al Qaeda groups, was killed by France in November.
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JNIM official warns competing militia groups in northern Mali
The jihadist leader’s speech, while new, continued previous mantras used by JNIM and its predecessor organizations against the various armed militias operating in northern Mali.
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Authorities investigate knife attack west of Paris
An assailant stabbed a small number of people in Trappes, west of Paris, earlier today. The Islamic State quickly claimed via its Amaq News Agency that the attacker was one of its “fighters.” Authorities are investigating the incident, and the possibility it was a family dispute turned violent. Some reports say the two people killed were the “attacker’s mother and sister.”
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JNIM claims suicide bombing on French troops in Gao
The jihadist group claims the bombing, and last week’s bombing at the G5 Sahel base in central Mali, were messages to warn France and its allies about the “costs” of being in Mali.
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Suicide car bombing hits French troops in northern Mali
Only days after a suicide assault on an African military base in central Mali, another suicide car bombing hit French Barkhane troops in the northern city of Gao.
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Analysis: Conflict within a conflict in Mali’s northern Menaka region
Intercommunal eye for an eye killings have been increasing in the past week with dozens of Tuaregs and Fulani being killed on both sides of the Mali-Niger border. The massacres come in the backdrop of ongoing counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
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JNIM claims four suicide bombers used in Timbuktu attack
The group said that four suicide bombers, rather than the previously reported two or three, were used in the April 14 suicide assault on the Timbuktu airport. Additionally, JNIM also denied claims of the use of female suicide bombers.
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Al Qaeda’s JNIM claims suicide assault in Timbuktu
JNIM claims the brazen assault was in retaliation for the death of several of its commanders and fighters in recent French raids.
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French forces confirm joint operation against Islamic State-loyal militants
French special forces took part in a large-scale joint operation with Malian and Nigerien troops, alongside Tuareg militias, against militants of the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahara on April 1.
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Islamic State claims its ‘soldier’ took hostages in southern France
French authorities ended a hostage crisis earlier today after an armed man assaulted a supermarket in Trèbes. The man reportedly killed at least three people, including a passenger in a car he attempted to hijack and two others in the market. The Islamic State (ISIS) claims the perpetrator is its “soldier.” ISIS has been tied to a series of plots in France since 2014.
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French soldiers killed by IED in northern Mali
The deadly IED blast comes just a week after major French raids on JNIM positions and leaders near the borders with Algeria.
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20 jihadists killed or captured in French raids in northern Mali
French forces conducted near simultaneous raids and airstrikes on three jihadist targets belonging to al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
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JNIM claims string of attacks across Mali
These assaults serve as a reminder of al Qaeda’s vast capabilities to strike across the region. This comes even with both a French counter-terrorism operation and a UN peacekeeping operation in Mali. Al Qaeda’s operational capacity in Mali and the wider West African region has largely remained intact.
