Killing of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi | |||||||
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Part of Operation Barkhane in the Mali War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() | ![]() | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown | Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
20 men | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None | 10 killed |
Between August 17 to 21, 2021, French forces under Operation Barkhane launched an operation to attack Islamic State in the Greater Sahara bases located in the Dangalous forest near Indelimane village of Mali. The battle killed the commander of ISGS, Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi. [1]
Two Islamic State fighters captured on July 14 reported the presence of ISGS camps in the Dangarous Forest, a notoriously wooded area that is difficult to access. [1] [2] On August 17, French intelligence conducted initial operations in the forest, with a Reaper drone killing two armed men on a motorcycle. [3] [1] One of the two killed turned out to be Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the leader of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, although this was not immediately identifiable. [4] [3] [5]
The second part of the operation was carried out between August 20 and August 22. [1] [3] About twenty men, supported by drones and helicopters, intercepted two more men on motorcycles. [1] After a short firefight, the two men were killed. French forces then proceeded to launch airstrikes on ISGS positions inside the forest, which continued after the French soldiers retreated. [4]
According to the French government, ten jihadists were killed in the operation. [6]
On September 16, 2021, French president Emmanuel Macron released a statement saying that the leader of ISGS had been "neutralized" in a strike by French forces in August. [7] [8] French Minister of Defence Florence Parly stated that the killing of al-Sahrawi "deals a decisive blow to the command of Daesh in the Sahel because ISGS will no doubt have difficulty replacing its emir with a figure of the same stature." [3]
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.
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 – Sahil Province (ISSP).
Lehbib Ould Ali Ould Said Ould Yumani, known as Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, was a Sahrawi Islamist militant and leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
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.
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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 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.
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 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 April 26 and 27, 2018, militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked two refugee camps near Andéramboukane, Ménaka, Mali, killing forty-seven people, mostly Tuareg civilians.
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.
On December 3, 2023, jihadists from the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISSP) launched simultaneous attacks against Malian forces and allied Wagner Group mercenaries in Labbézanga, Gao Region, and against Tuareg militia groups in Ménaka Region.
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