On October 30, French army troops stationed in Mali carried out a successful airstrike that greatly contributed to repressing jihadists. The attack occurred when a group of more than 50 militants attempted to attack an army position near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger. One French drone detected a very large motorcycle caravan, and the French-led anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane launched an offensive.
The French forces sent two Mirage fighter jets and a drone to launch missiles to prevent the militants from attacking. The airstrike resulted in the neutralization of more than 50 militants in the three border areas. Also, around 30 motorcycles belonging to the militants were destroyed. The French military spokesman Colonel Fredric Barbry reported they had seized weapons, explosives, and suicide vests found. He further stated that four terrorists had been captured during the operation.
Killing of Jihadist Commander
French airstrikes have proved to be of great assistance since the former colonial power France launched a military operation to repress the militants in Mali. The airstrikes marked a significant blow to the Ansarul Islam group linked to the Al-Qaeda via the GSIM alliance led by Iyad Ag Ghaly last month. In June this year, an earlier airstrike executed by the French forces led to the elimination of the Al-Qaeda commander Abdelmalek Droukdel.
Abdemalek Droukdel headed Al Qaeda’s North African branch (AQIM). Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM0 emerged from a group started in late 1990 by radical Algerian Islamists. In 2007 the Islamists pledged their allegiance to Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, becoming affiliated with the group. This week AQIM for the first displayed the body of their former leader in a video they made. The French army killed Abdemalek in Mali after hunting him for more than seven years in the Sahel region.
Retaliation against the International Forces
France has more than 5,00 troops deployed in the Sahel region to combat insurgents. Additionally, the United Nations has some 13,000 troops deployed in Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission. Because vast swathes of Mali lie outside effective government control, the forces offering assistance in Mali struggle to contain the jihadists. Due to the elimination of their leader and 50 of their fellow jihadists, Mali authorities expected the Jihadists would retaliate.
This week on Monday, simultaneous attacks that bear the mark of the jihadists occurred in the cities of Gao, Maneka, and Kidal in northern Mali. According to a United Nations official and locals, the attacks hit military camps housing international forces. One local said he heard more than ten explosions coming from the direction of the camp for soldiers and U.N peacekeepers for the French Operation Barkhane. A U.N official, later on, confirmed that the attacks on the three cities. He said that skyrockets fell Monday at dawn on the base camp in Kidal. At the same time, there were related attacks in Gao and Menaka.
No party has declared accountability for the synchronized attacks. Numerous people believe jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda carried out the attacks. Attacks on camps of international forces staying in Mali are frequent. But the recent attacks were the first ever to affect towns several hundred kilometers apart at the same time. The attacks showed the coordination capabilities of jihadist groups in Mali.
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