| Takoumbaout ambush | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mali War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | Abderrahmane Talha Abou al-Nour al-Andalusi | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 6 killed 2 injured | None | ||||||
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.
MINUSMA is the United Nations peacekeeping force, and shortly after it was implemented in the fallout of the Mali War, became a target of jihadist groups such as Ansar Dine and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). These groups are often active in Tombouctou Region, where the ambush took place. [1]
Prior to the attack, the AQIM fighters had a lot of intelligence regarding the MINUSMA convoy, including how many soldiers would be on it and where it would be going and at what time. [1] At the moment the jihadists attacked with rocket launchers and guns, the convoy was going at very high speeds, causing a "very violent" situation that surprised the peacekeepers. [1] [2] The ambush was claimed the same day by AQIM. MINUSMA reported the deaths of six peacekeepers and five injured, who were all part of the Badenya battalions, Burkinabe units of MINUSMA. [3] AQIM, in a press release to Mauritanian news agency al-Akhbar, claimed the deaths of seven peacekeepers and four destroyed vehicles. [4]
MINUSMA dispatched units to the site following the attack, but the jihadists had fled at that point. [4] In early September, AQIM released a video of the ambush. The video contained songs and imagery used often by propaganda videos from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In the video, several dozen fighters of the al-Quds unit commanded by Katiba al-Furqanemir Abderrahmane Talha. [5] Another member of Katiba al-Furqan, a Spaniard named Abou al-Nour al-Andalusi led a group of twenty-five men in the video. [6]
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.
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 Ber took place on October 27, 2018, after Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) militants attacked a MINUSMA base manned by Burkinabe soldiers in Ber, Mali.
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 part of Operation Barkhane.
On November 24, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin ambushed Nigerien MINUSMA peacekeepers and Malian soldiers in the village of Indelimane, Mali.
On August 14, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin attacked a MINUSMA base in Timbuktu, Mali.
On May 29, 2016, Katiba Macina militants ambushed Togolese peacekeepers in MINUSMA near Sévaré, Mali. The attack was the first deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in Mopti Region during the Mali War, and the first major engagement involving Togolese peacekeepers during the war.
On May 18, 2016, militants from Ansar Dine ambushed Chadian forces north of Aguelhok, Mali.
On January 15, 2016, unknown militants ambushed Malian forces near Wanna, in Goundam Cercle, Mali.
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.
On August 3, 2015, jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) launched an attack on Malian forces in Gourma-Rharous, Mali. Eleven Malian soldiers were killed in the attack.
On August 7, 2015, jihadists from Al-Mourabitoun and Katiba Macina attacked the Byblos Hotel in Sévaré, Mali. The attack was one of the largest attacks against civilians in Mopti Region during the Mali War, and led to the deaths of thirteen people, including five civilians.
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.
On May 11, 2015, a Malian convoy was ambushed by Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) fighters in Tin Telout, Tombouctou Region, Mali. The ambush was the last conflict between the Malian government and CMA before the signing of the Algiers Accords.
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.
On October 3, 2014, nine Nigerien peacekeepers were killed in an ambush by al-Mourabitoun in Indelimane, Mali.
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).
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 October 23, 2013, Katiba Salahadin militants attacked Chadian peacekeepers in the city of Tessalit, sparking a battle between the militants and Chadian and French forces. The attack was the first attack by jihadists targeting MINUSMA peacekeepers during the Mali War.
