Mali's Army Announces Capture of Senior Islamic State Leader

By Al Mayadeen English

6 Jan 2025 13:06

The army says the operation was carried out in the northern part of the country and resulted in the killing of several other militants.

Mali's army announced on Saturday that its forces had captured two men, one of whom is a prominent figure in the Islamic State group’s Sahel branch.

The army also reported killing several members of the group during an operation in the northern part of the country.

According to a statement from the military, they arrested Mahamad Ould Erkehile alias Abu Rakia and Abu Hash, the latter of whom is said to be a key leader within the group. The army accused Abu Hash of orchestrating attacks in the Menaka and Gao regions in the northeast, as well as coordinating assaults on the military. 

Mali has been experiencing a terror insurgency for over a decade, which the French security mission failed to combat. As a result, the violence spread to Mali’s neighboring countries, Burkina Faso and Niger, prompting the three nations’ military rulers to sever their ties with France and form the Alliance of Sahel States while cooperating with Russia in countering terrorism.

Mali alarmed that weapons supplied to Ukraine fuel terrorism in Sahel

Malian Ambassador to the United Nations Oumar Daou expressed concern in August that the weapons provided to Ukraine by the collective West are eventually supporting terrorism in the Sahel area.

At the time, Daou stated at a session of the United Nations Security Council that the government is alarmed "because it's been clearly established that a good part of the weapons … end up fueling terrorism and crime in the Sahel."

The Malian envoy further stated that the weapons transfers have the potential to further destabilize African countries and worsen the suffering of the Malian people, who have already been "sorely tested by several years of conflict with dramatic consequences."