Al-Qaeda North Africa Confirms Chief is Dead

World

June 19th, 10:33am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb fighters. File photo

Al-Qaeda's North Africa wing has confirmed that its Algerian chief Abdelmalek Droukdel is dead, after France said early this month that its forces killed him in northern Mali. Paris said Droukdel was killed near the Algerian border, where it says the group has bases it uses to carry out bombings and abductions of Westerners. "After nearly two weeks, AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) has officially acknowledged the death of its long me leader Droukdel (Wadud), with a video eulogy narrated by AQIM's head of media, pledging continued battles against occupying French forces and others in N. Africa and the Sahel," the director of the US watchdog for extremist groups (SITE), Rita Katz, said Thursday on her Twitter account. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said June 6 that many close associates of the Algerian -- who commanded several groups under the AQIM banner -- were also "neutralized." The group has said it has carried out numerous attacks on troops and civilians across the Sahel, including a 2016 attack on an upmarket hotel and restaurant in Burkina Faso that killed 30 people, mainly Westerners. The death of Droukdel -- once regarded as Algeria's enemy number one -- could leave AQIM in disarray, French military sources have said. France has deployed more than 5,000 troops to combat extremist groups in the region, a largely lawless expanse stretching over Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2342931/al-qaeda-north-africa-confirms-chief-dead