Parly hailed the operation involving helicopters and ground troops that "neutralised" Ba Ag Moussa, the military commander of the Group to Support Islam and Moslems (GSIM).
| ...in Arabic Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin (JNIM), the regional umbrella affiliated with Al Qaeda in North Africa. |
"He is considered one of the top military jihadists in Mali, in charge in particular of the training of new recruits."
In June, French forces in Mali killed Abdelmalik Droukdel
... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb....
, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the rival jihadist group to GSIM.
La Belle France has more than 5,000 troops deployed in its anti-jihadist Barkhane force in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
Mali is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in 2012 and has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.
Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed the centre of the country and spread to neighbouring 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...
and Niger.