French ground troops and military helicopters have killed an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist commander in Mali, along with four others, the French military said on Friday (13 November).
The operation, which took place on Tuesday, targeted Bah ag Moussa, French army spokesman Colonel Frédéric Baboury told reporters on Friday. He is the military commander of the Islamic extremist group RVIM. He has been on the U.N. sanctions list and is believed to have orchestrated several attacks against the Malian army and international forces in Mali.
Babri said drones helped French forces in Mali spot Moussa’s truck in the Menaka region of eastern Mali, and the French army sent helicopters and 15 French commandos to the scene. He said the French fired warning shots and the truck refused to stop and opened fire on the French forces, after which all five men on board were killed.
He described the action as “self-defence” and said that the French army had disposed of the bodies in accordance with international humanitarian law. He did not say whether allied forces, including the United States, had provided intelligence assistance for the operation.
The French defense minister said in a statement that Moussa was responsible for training the new jihadist recruits. This is the latest in a number of French operations in Mali in recent weeks that have killed suspected extremists.
Moussa, an ethnic Tuareg rebel, had close ties to Iyad Ag Ghaly, a commander of the jihadist forces when the extremists and rebels took over northern Mali in 2012. After the fall of northern Mali, France led a military operation in 2013 to prevent its collapse.
Moussa has become a prominent jihadist leader in central Mali in recent years and a liaison with extremist groups in northern Mali, where he was born, Malian military officials said. The Malian army accuses him of orchestrating attacks against Malian forces in multiple locations, killing dozens of soldiers.
France has thousands of troops stationed in West Africa to help fight the extremist groups. Islamic extremists regrouped in the desert region after being overthrown in northern Mali in 2013 and now regularly launch attacks against the Malian army and its allies.
The French army announced the latest operation on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack by Islamic extremists that struck Paris and killed 130 people. In that terrorist attack five years ago, the extremists attacked the Bataclan theatre, cafes and the national stadium.
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