The French military and allied forces in Mali have killed the leader of al Qaida’s North African arm, who commanded jihadists in his native Algeria and then spread their movement across Africa’s Sahel region.
Abdelmalek Droukdel, known as the emir of al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, was killed in an operation on Wednesday in northern Mali along with several people in his entourage, French defence minister Florence Parly tweeted.
READ MORE: George Floyd protests: More Republicans speak out against Trump
Droukdel fought in Algeria’s civil war in the 1990s and allied the Algerian jihadist group GSPC with al Qaida in 2006. Under his leadership, AQIM claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks across Algeria.
Ms Parly identified him as a member of al Qaida’s “management committee”.
Related anti-terrorist operations in the region also led to the arrest on May 19 of a major figure in the Islamic State in the Grand Sahara, Mohamed el Mrabat, she said.
READ MORE: Last month was warmest May on record – EU climate monitor
She said the operations dealt a “severe blow” to terrorist groups in the region that have been operating for years despite the presence of thousands of French, UN and other African troops.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel