| Battle of Talahandak | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Mali War | |||||||
 An overhead shot of the killing of Abu Musab Abdul-Wadood. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France  United States (technical assistance) |  Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Abdelmalek Droukdel † | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 4 killed 1 captured | ||||||
  Location within Mali | |||||||
The Battle of Talahandak took place on 3 June 2020 during the Mali War. It resulted in the death of Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
On 1 June 2020, with aid from US intelligence, French special forces closely working with Operation Barkhane identified that Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of AQIM, was present in the environs around Tessalit, Mali. [1] [2] [3] After the scanning operation, French general staff declared that after two days of electromagnetic signal scanning, they identified that a target of interest was in the region. [4]
On 3 June, the operation was launched by operators of the French Special Operations Command to eliminate Abdelmalek Droukdel.
The AQIM group was composed of Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of AQIM, Toufik Chaib, a senior leader of AQIM in charge of propaganda and coordination with Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM). [3] [5] [4] They were accompanied by three AQIM jihadists. [3] [5] They drove a white SUV, in which they stopped near a small heap of stones, and set up a bivouac in the wadi of Ourdjane, between two and five kilometres south of the village of Talahandak, which in itself is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of the village of Tessalit, and 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Algerian border. [3] [6] Based on accounts from the Agence France-Presse, the area was described as a crossroads for truckers, who sometimes wait for several weeks the border with Algeria to be opened, as well as a "hotspot for migrant trafficking", according to a UN expert in Mali. [7]
The operation was launched by 15 French special operators with two Caracal helicopters, one Tiger attack helicopter, a Gazelle helicopter and an MQ-9 Reaper drone. [8] [9] Because of the weather conditions in the area, French special forces had to operate on the ground during daylight. [3] [4]
During the beginning of the clashes, the AQIM command attempted to flee from the encounter. However, they were forced to attempt a counterattack against the French special forces, leading to a subsequent close quarter firefight. Four AQIM jihadists were killed, including Droukdel and Chaib, while the driver of the white SUV surrendered, and was taken captive by the French army. [1] [5] [3] [4]
On 5 June 2020, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, announced through her Twitter account the death of Abdelmalek Droukdel, and declared that the "essential fight for peace and stability in the region has just been a major success". [10] [11] The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) indicated that it had confirmation of the death of Droukdel through their own means. [3] According to France 24's journalist Wassim Nasr, Droukdel's death is also confirmed by sources close to AQIM. [12] AQIM officially acknowledged the death of its leader in a video published almost two weeks later. [13]
The French army declared that they do not know how long Abdelmalek Droukdel had been in Mali, but journalist Wassim Nasr said that according to AQIM sources, Droukdel was on his way to a meeting with Iyad Ag Ghaly, the head of JNIM. [3] Le Monde indicates that according to an official French source, it had not been long since Abdelmalek was in Mali, without knowing if it was because of movement constrained by the events in Algeria or if it was deliberately in line with AQIM's development, they had information for a month that the AQIM staff was heading towards the north of Mali. This led Droukdel to expose himself to intelligence agencies. [14]
Tessalit is a rural commune and village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village is the administrative centre of Tessalit Cercle (district). The village lies 85 kilometres (53 mi) north of Adjelhoc and about 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the Algerian border. The commune extends over an area of 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi) that is almost entirely desert. In the 2009 census the commune had a population of 5,739.
Abdelmalek Droukdel, also known by his alias as Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud, was the emir, or leader, of the Algerian Islamic militant group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). He was killed during a French special operation during the Battle of Talahandak.
Omar Ould Hamaha was an Islamist militia commander from Northern Mali. During the 2012 Northern Mali conflict he became known alternatively as the spokesman and chief of staff for both Ansar Dine and Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA), militant groups associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Abdelhamid Abou Zeid was an Algerian national and Islamist jihadi militant and smuggler who, in about 2010, became one of the top three military commanders of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a Mali-based militant organization. He competed as the chief rival of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian national who had become the major commander in AQIM and later head of his own group. Both gained wealth and power by kidnapping and ransoming European nationals. After taking control of Timbuktu in 2012, Abou Zeid established sharia law and destroyed Sufi shrines.
Al-Mourabitoun was an African militant jihadist organization formed by a merger between Ahmed Ould Amer, a.k.a. Ahmed al-Tilemsi's Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, and Mokhtar Belmokhtar's Al-Mulathameen. On 4 December 2015, it joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group sought to implement Sharia law in Mali, Algeria, southwestern Libya, and Niger.
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.
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.
Ba Ag Moussa was a Malian militant and jihadist.
Yezid Mebarek, better known by his nom-de-guerreAbu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi, is an Algerian Islamist militant who is the current leader of the Algerian Islamic militant group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). In November 2020, he was named emir, replacing Abdelmalek Droukdel who was killed during a French special operation during the Battle of Talahandak.
On April 2, 2021, insurgents from the al-Qaeda-linked group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) attacked a contingent of Chadian troops serving in MINUSMA, the UN's peacekeeping branch throughout the Mali War. The Chadian troops effectively repelled the JNIM attack, inflicting heavy casualties.
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 2019 Aguelhok attack was an attack by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin against the MINUSMA base in Aguelhok, Mali on January 20, 2019. At the time of the attack, the base was defended by Chadian and Bengali peacekeepers and was later aided by French forces as part of Operation Barkhane.
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.
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.
Between March 4 and 5, 2014, French forces conducted a bombing campaign in the Ametettai mountains of Kidal Region against al-Mourabitoun. The bombings killed Omar Ould Hamaha, a prominent jihadist commander, and several other militants.
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 June 16, 2009, Malian forces clashed with jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Garn-Akassa, Kidal Region, Mali.
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.