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 raid on 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]
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.
Ahmed al-Tilemsi, nom de guerre of Abderrahmane Ould El Amar was a Malian jihadist leader and drug trafficker who served as a founding member and senior figure of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and a senior figure and alleged emir of al-Mourabitoun.
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 High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) (French: Haut conseil pour l'unité de l'Azawad) is a Tuareg political movement formed on May 2, 2013, during the Mali War. The movement was initially called the High Council of Azawad (HCA) (French: Haut conseil de l'Azawad) before changing its name on May 19, 2013.
Between December 24–25, 2015, Ansar Dine militants attacked National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) positions in Talahandak, Mali. Ansar Dine captured the MNLA outpost, and then ambushed CMA reinforcements.
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.
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 Salahaddin, 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-Libi, 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.
Sedane Ag Hita, also known as Abou Abdelhakim al-Kidali, is a Malian jihadist who is currently serving as the second-in-command of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin since March 11, 2019.
Djamel Okacha, nom de guerre Yahia Abou al-Hamman, was an Algerian jihadist who fought in the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and later Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). Okacha served as the commanders of Katiba al-Furqan and Katiba al-Mulathamoun within AQIM, and was appointed as the co-governor of Tombouctou Region during Ansar Dine's capture of the region during the 2012 Tuareg rebellion. Okacha was then appointed as the second-in-command of AQIM between 2012 and 2017, where he co-founded JNIM alongside Iyad Ag Ghaly and Amadou Kouffa. Okacha served as the second-in-command of JNIM until his death in 2019.
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