Rabat – Anti-jihadist forces in Mali announced the killing of the “senior” Algerian leader of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Yahia Djouadi.
France 24 quoted the French army, announcing the news on Monday, saying that the killing took place overnight between February 25-26.
Djouadji, an Algerian national, was known as Abu Ammar al-Jazairi.
The anti-jihadist force killed Al Djouajdi 160 kilometers north of Timbuktu, central Mali.
According to the French army, the death of Djouadi “weakens Al-Qaeda governance in Mali.”
Beyond Mali, Djouadi was also known as the former leader of Al Qaeda’s Libyan operations. He fled Libya to Mali in 2019, where he helped organize the terror group, coordinating supplies, financing, and logistics.
Morocco has regularly expressed concerns regarding the situation in the Sahel region, particularly Mali.
The North African country has also called for a shared responsibility to increase efforts to fight against terror networks in the Sahel.
Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) issued warnings about the worrying security situation in the Sahel during its participation in the annual International Conference on Countering Violent Extremism.
In addition to Djouadi, French armed forces also killed the leader of the jihadist group Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS), Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, in September 2021.
A former Polisario Front member, al-Sahrawi created the EIGS in 2015.
The terror member had been a source of concern for security officials, as he was behind most of the attacks in the Sahel.
