French Forces Kill Top Al Qaeda Leader in Mali Operation

On Twitter, the minister said that the French forces, with the support of their partners, neutralized this historic leader of jihad in the Maghreb, commander of several Sahelian jihadist groups, and several of his close collaborators, on June 3, during an operation northwest of the Malian town of Tessalit.

Florence Parly congratulated and thanked "all those who made possible and carried out these daring operations that deal severe blows to these terrorist groups." "Our forces, in cooperation with their partners in the G5 Sahel, will continue to relentlessly hunt them down," the French Minister of the Armed Forces assured.

According to her, this operation reflects the determination of France and its partners to counter terrorism in all its forms in the Sahel. "At the Pau Summit on January 13, the heads of state of France and the G5 Sahel countries reaffirmed their determination to continue their efforts to fight the terrorist groups operating in the Sahelo-Saharan strip," the minister recalled.

"Operations against the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), the other major terrorist threat in the region, are also continuing. On May 19, the French armed forces captured Mohamed el-Mrabat, a veteran of jihad in the Sahel and an important ISGS cadre," Florence Parly said.