| Archam clashes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mali War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
Unknown jihadists | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 8 killed 14 injured 5 missing | 57 killed | ||||||
Between February 18 and 19, 2022, clashes broke out in Archam, Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger, between the Malian Army and unknown jihadists.
The border region between Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger has been a hotbed of violence between the aforementioned governments and jihadist groups, most notably Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, which is aligned with Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. While JNIM and ISGS only gained prominence in the region in the late 2010s, the Malian government, backed by French Operation Barkhane, had been fighting Islamist groups in the region since the outbreak of the Mali War in 2012. In 2020, French-backed president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was deposed in a coup. A year later, the 2020 junta leader, Bah Ndaw, was deposed by a coup led by Assimi Goïta. One of Goita's actions in his rule was expelling Operation Barkhane, and bringing in the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group. [3] French forces exited Mali on February 17, 2022, with one of their last actions in the region being an operation with the Takuba Task Force in Ménaka and Gao regions of Mali against JNIM and ISGS. [4] Wagner Group was brought into the same areas as the Takuba Task Force was. [3]
Prior to the clashes, around 40 civilians were killed by jihadists in clashes between JNIM and ISGS near Tessit, not far from Archam. [5] The Islamic State managed to capture the area, and around 60 fighters from both sides were killed. [5]
The fighting began with an air raid near the area on February 18 by the Malian Air Force. [6] The air force launched strikes on a column of motorcycles with armed men, who were surrounding a Malian patrol group in the area. [7] Malian ground troops then began storming bases of the jihadists, destroying one of them. [7] In a press release, the Malian government stated eight soldiers were killed, 14 injured, and five missing in the clashes. [8] Malian officials also stated that fifty-seven militants were killed in the airstrikes and operation. [9]
Following the clashes in Archam, locals stated that the town, along with Tessit, were calm under Malian control, although food insecurity was prevalent. [7] There were no noted clashes or violent events in the Archam area the following week. [10]
On February 23, eighteen civilians were killed and eight injured in Niger following an attack on a truck traveling through the tripoint area. [11]
Operation Barkhane was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region and consisted of a roughly 3,000-strong French force, which was permanently headquartered in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation was led in co-operation with five countries, all of which are former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Mali was a part of the operation until August 2022. The countries are collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel". The operation was named after a crescent-shaped dune type that is common in the Sahara desert.
Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin is a Salafi Jihadist organisation in the Maghreb and West Africa formed by the merger of Ansar Dine, the Macina Liberation Front, al-Mourabitoun and the Saharan branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Its leaders swore allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The Islamic State – Sahel Province(ISSP), formerly known as Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS), is an Islamist militant group adhering to the ideology of Salafi Jihadism. IS-GS was formed on 15 May 2015 as the result of a split within the militant group Al-Mourabitoun. The rift was a reaction to the adherence of one of its leaders, Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, to the Islamic State. From March 2019 to 2022, IS-GS was formally part of the Islamic State – West Africa Province (ISWAP); when it was also called "ISWAP-Greater Sahara". In March 2022, IS declared the province autonomous, separating it from its West Africa Province and naming it Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP).
Events in the year 2021 in Mali.
An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
Events in the year 2022 in Mali.
Events in the year 2023 in Mali.
Between March 15 and 16, 2021, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara fighters clashed with Malian and French troops over control of a Malian military base near the town of Tessit, with ISGS jihadists overrunning the coalition.
Between December 3 and 10, 2022, militants from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and al-Qaeda-linked Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin clashed in eastern Mali, at the river between the towns of Tadjalalt and Haroum.
On October 13, 2022, an IED hit a civilian bus travelling along the Bandiagara-Goundaka highway in rural Mali, killing 10 civilians and injuring dozens more. The attack was alleged to be coordinated by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
The Ménaka offensive was a series of offensives launched by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara against the Malian Army, Tuareg self-defense groups including the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) and Imghad Tuareg Self-Defense Group and Allies (GATIA), and the al-Qaeda-aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. The offensives took place in the Ménaka Cercle, in southeastern Mali.
The Ouahigouya ambush took place near Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso, between February 7 and 8, 2022. French forces launched an airstrike on Ansar ul Islam militants responsible for the November Inata attack that killed dozens of Burkinabe police officers.
On March 20, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed Burkinabe soldiers in Natiaboani, Gourma Province, Burkina Faso, killing thirteen soldiers and an unknown number of jihadists.
The battle of Boulikessi took place between September 30 and October 1, 2019. Jihadists from JNIM and Ansarul Islam attacked Malian bases in Boulikessi and Mondoro, killing between 40 and 85 Malian soldiers, making it the deadliest attack for the Malian army since the Second Battle of Kidal in 2014.
On July 17, 2019, Franco-Malian forces clashed with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara near Fafa, in Mali.
Operation Tiésaba-Bourgou was a joint Franco-Malian operation against Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin and Ansarul Islam near the Malian, Burkinabe, and Nigerien borders.
On April 24, 2022, militants from Katibat Macina attacked Malian Army bases in the cities of Sévaré, Niono, and Bapho, all in central Mali's Mopti Region. The attacks killed fifteen soldiers and six civilians.
The battle of Akabar took place on April 1, 2018, between French and Malian forces aided by Tuareg rebels against Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
On July 5, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) attacked Nigerien forces near Midal, Niger. The attack was the first claimed by JNIM in Niger.
The JNIM-ISGS war is an ongoing armed conflict between Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS), the Sahelian branches of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State respectively. Since ISGS' formation in October 2016 and the creation of the JNIM coalition in 2017, the two groups had been described as the Sahelien exception or Sahelien anomaly: despite the global war between al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates since the latter's splinter from the former in 2014, both ISGS and JNIM have ignored each other and in rare cases worked together against Malian, Nigerien, Burkinabe, French, and international governments and non-Islamist militias until 2020.
