Tag Archives: France



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.


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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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.







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 […]


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.”




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.”








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.




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.