About thirty jihadist fighters have died in an operation carried out by the French military in the center of Mali, as reported this Saturday by a military spokesman to ‘Le Monde’.
“Some thirty members of the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) were neutralized” during an air operation and in the framework of the Barkhane security operation, as reported by the spokesman, Colonel Frédéric Barbry. The DPA agency has confirmed that the jihadists have died.
This announcement takes place after the death in another military operation of Ba Ag Musa, military head of this jihadist coalition, an affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Sahel, was known yesterday.
The military launched this new operation last Thursday about 180 kilometers east of the regional capital, Mopti, and it involved Mirage fighter jets, helicopters and infantry. In addition to the casualties among the jihadists, the military destroyed or seized about twenty motorcycles, as well as several weapons.
The operation that killed the jihadist leader occurred late last Tuesday in the Malian town of Ménaka, in the north of the country.
The deceased was a former colonel in the Army of Mali, also known as Bamoussa Diarra, who acted as the right hand of Iyad Ag Ghali, the leader of this affiliate of Al Qaeda – an alliance that integrates Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Al Murabitún, the Macina Liberation Front (LWF) and Ansar Dine – which has repeatedly attacked soldiers and civilians in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso.
© 2020 Europa Press.
