Abdelkrim al-Targui | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Hamada Ag Hama |
| Born | c. 1970 Kidal, Mali |
| Died | May 18, 2015 Tigharghar mountains, Kidal Region, Mali |
| Allegiance |  AQIM (2010-2015) |
| Service/ | Katiba Al Ansar |
| Rank | Emir (Katiba Al Ansar) |
| Known for | Kidnapping of several French nationals |
| Battles/wars | Insurgency in the Sahel Mali War |
Hamada Ag Hama, also known as Abdelkrim Taleb or Abdelkrim al-Targui was a Malian jihadist and emir of Katiba Al Ansar, a brigade in Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Targui was born in Kidal, and is a cousin of Iyad Ag Ghaly. [1] [2] In the 1990s, he joined the Dawa, an Islamist sect, and got in contact with the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) a few years later. He joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in 2010. [1] In AQIM, he was initially under the orders of Abou Zeid, but as increased numbers of Tuareg fighters joined AQIM and did not want to be commanded by an Algerian, Targui became the leader of the newly created Katiba Al Ansar. [3] [4]
On June 30, 2010, Targui ambushed a convoy of Algerian soldiers at Tinzaouaten near the Malian border. Eleven gendarmes were killed in the attack, and a customs officer was captured and executed. [5] Captured Tunisian AQIM militant Bechir Bessoun testified that Michel Germaneau, a French hostage, was personally executed by Targui in the Tigharghar mountains of Adrar des Ifoghas. The execution of Germaneau was carried out under the orders of Djamel Okacha and Zeid in retaliation for a Franco-Mauritanian ambush on AQIM in the battle of Akla. [6]
Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic were kidnapped by Targui's Katiba Al Ansar on November 24, 2011. [7] [8] In March 2013, Verdon was executed by Targui, and his body was found that July. MNLA fighters stated his body was found in Adrar Tigharghar following the battle of Tigharghar. [9] [10] Targui's associate Sedane Ag Hita kidnapped Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon on November 2, 2013, and were executed by Katiba Al Ansar shortly afterward. [11] [4] Lazarevic was released by AQIM in 2014 in exchange for two relatives of Targui captured by French forces; Haiba Ag Acherif and Mohamed Ali Ag Wadoussene. [11]
Targui was located near Boghassa by French intelligence in 2015. On May 16, 2015, he left a meeting where ten jihadists were gathered and traveled with Ibrahim Ag Inawalen and two bodyguards. [12] Their vehicle was ambushed by French forces on the night between May 17 and 18, and were all killed in a shootout with French forces in the Tigharghar mountains. [13]
The Battle of Ifoghas, also known as the Battle of Tigharghâr or the Battle of the Ametettai, took place from 18 February to 31 March 2013, during the Northern Mali conflict. The French army and the Chadian army fought armed Salafist jihadist groups led by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine. After being defeated in January in the Battle of Konna and the Battle of Diabaly, the jihadists abandoned Timbuktu and retreated into the Adrar Tigharghar, a mountain of the Adrar of Ifoghas in northeastern Mali, which has been their sanctuary for years. The French started quickly a pursuit, and they took control of the towns of Tessalit and Aguelhok and begun the operation Panther in the Tigharghar. The first clashes erupt on February 18 and are mainly concentrated in the Ametettai Valley. It is caught between two armored columns, one French to the west and another Chadian to the east, while the paratroopers manage to surprise the jihadists by attacking on foot from the north. The valley is taken on March 3 and jihadists begin to gradually abandon the Tigharghar. Excavation missions and some skirmishes, however, continue to take place the following days. The operations cease on March 31. The battle was a turning point in the war, as with the capture of the Tigharghar, the jihadists lose their main sanctuary in the Sahel as well as most of their military arsenal, taken from the Malian army or Libya.
Amadou Koufa, nom de guerre of Amadou Diallo, also spelled Hamadoun Kouffa or Amadou Kouffa is a Malian Fulani jihadist and preacher who founded Katiba Macina, later part of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
The battle of Farimake took place between November 22 and 23, 2018, between French forces of Operation Barkhane and Katibat Macina, a regional variant of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. French forces launched an assault on Katiba Macina, claiming to have killed their leader Amadou Koufa.
The battle of Elakla took place on February 21, 2019, between French forces of Operation Barkhane and al-Qaeda aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
The raid on Tin Biden occurred between October 23 and 24, 2017, between French forces of Operation Barkhane and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin in the remote wadi of Tin Biden, Kidal Region, Mali. In the battle, French forces killed eleven Malian prisoners of war held captive by JNIM.
Ibrahim Ag Inawalen, nom de guerreBana, was a Malian soldier and jihadist in Ansar Dine.
The Battle of Adrar Bouss was fought on 15 September 2011 between the armed forces of Niger and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Nabil Makhloufi, nom de guerre Nabil Abou Alqama, was an Algerian jihadist who fought in the Algerian Civil War and the Mali War, and served as the head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)'s Sahara region between 2011 and 2012.
Hamada Ould Mohamed Kheirou nom de guerre Abu Qum-Qum was a Mauritanian jihadist and the founder of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO/MOJWA).
On July 16, 2015, the Malian army raided a jihadist base in the Sama Forest, in southern Mali's Sikasso Region. The raid is one of the few confrontations between jihadists and the Malian army in southern Mali, and marked the end of the Khalid ibn Walid katiba and jihadist expansion in southern Mali.
On July 2, 2015, a MINUSMA convoy was ambushed by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb en route from Goundam to Timbuktu.
On June 27, 2015, Katiba Macina militants attacked the Malian military base in Nara, Mali, and briefly captured the town. The attack was repelled by Malian forces.
The raid on Ténenkou took place on January 16, 2015, between Malian forces and jihadists of the Ansar Dine-affiliated Katiba Macina.
On January 5, 2015, militants from Katiba Macina and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) overran Malian defenses and briefly captured the city of Nampalari, Mali.
Abdou Aïssa, nom de guerre Sultan Ould Bady, is a Malian jihadist and drug trafficker. He co-founded the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) with Hamada Ould Mohamed Kheirou and Ahmed al-Tilemsi, and founded Katibat Salahadin, a katiba within MOJWA that later reformed in the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara after Bady defected.
Between October 26 and November 8, 2014, French forces of Operation Barkhane launched an offensive against jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine in the area of Ametettai, rural Kidal Region. It was dubbed Operation Tudelle by French authorities.
Abderrahmane Talha, also known as Abou Talha al-Mauritani or Talha al-Libyy, is a Mauritanian jihadist who is the wali of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin's territory in Tombouctou Region.
The Battle of Areich Hind, also known as the Battle of Raz el-Ma, took place between September 17 and 19, 2010, during the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel. Mauritanian forces launched an offensive against a group of AQIM jihadists in Malian territory on September 17.
On July 22, 2010, French and Mauritanian forces launched a raid on an Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) base in Tombouctou Region, Mali, in an attempt to rescue French hostage Michel Germaneau. The forces were able to destroy the base, but Germaneau was not rescued and later executed by AQIM.
On December 12, 2023, jihadist militants from Katiba Macina, an affiliate of the al-Qaeda aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), attacked Malian forces in the town of Farabougou. The attack killed dozens of Malian soldiers, and was the first major raid in the town by JNIM since the Siege of Farabougou in 2020.
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