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Africa North

French soldiers kill Islamic State leader in Western Sahara, Macron says

2021-09-16

[DW] French troops have killed the leader of the west Africa branch of IS according to French President Emmanuel Macron. The group is responsible for scores of ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful attacks in several countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday morning that French military forces had killed Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the leader of the so-called Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in the Greater Sahara
<span style=color:maroon;>Islamic State in the Greater Sahara</span>

<span style=color:maroon;>Islamic State in the Greater Sahara</span>

...he succulent fruit of the union of splinter factions from Mokhtar Bekmokhtar'sal-Mourabitunes and MUJAO. Once the dust had settled and the smell of gunsmoke had dissipated, they became the Islamic State in Mali, then adopted their present clever name. They are headed by Adnan Abu Walid Saharaoui. It operates along the borders of Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
, Niger, and Mali...
(ISGS).

"It's another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel," Macron wrote in a tweet.

ISGS is active across large swathes of the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, especially the tri-border region between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso known as Liptako-Gourma. The area has been ravaged by bad boy violence that has also targeted children.

Aside from carrying out multiple of attacks on local civilians, ISGS was also responsible for the killing of US soldiers in 2017 and the execution of six French NGO workers in August of last year.

INCREASING VIOLENCE IN THE TRI-BORDER REGION
There are currently around 5,100 French troops present in the region as part of Operation Barkhane. They are joined by soldiers from Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

Due to the increasing violence, La Belle France has repeatedly pushed for support from other European countries. However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
given minimal successes and growing criticism at home, Macron has said that the number of French soldiers in deployment will be halved by 2022.

Sahrawi formed ISGS in 2015 following a split from another group, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), at which point he declared his group's allegiance to IS, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) reports.

The group gained attention from IS media outlets in 2019 after carrying several attacks. ISGS has expanded its operations in recent months along the Niger-Burkina Faso border, according to ECFR.

Posted by:trailing wife

#1 Backstory:
French troops kill ISIS leader who had $5m bounty on his head for masterminding killing four US special forces troops in North Africa ambush

Posted by: Skidmark 2021-09-16 08:11

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