French officials announced Thursday that they had killed the head of the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara, referring to him as “enemy No. 1” in the region’s long-running anti-terrorism campaign.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi’s death. The Islamic State group leader personally ordered the death of six French humanitarian workers and their Nigerien colleagues last year, according to Macron’s administration, and his organization was behind a 2017 strike that killed US and Niger military troops.
He was killed in an attack by France’s Barkhane military operation “a few weeks ago,” but officials didn’t make the news until they were certain of his identification, according to French Defense Minister Florence Parly. Though ISIS is active near the Mali-Niger border, she did not provide the details of the operation or where al-Sahrawi was killed.
Al-Sahrawi claimed responsibility for a 2017 incident in Niger that killed four US service members and four Niger military soldiers. His group has also kidnapped Westerners in the Sahel, and it is thought that American Jeffrey Woodke, who was kidnapped from his house in Niger in 2016, is still being held captive.
The next year, a French-led military campaign deposed Islamic radicals in Gao and other northern cities, however, the militants eventually reunited and carried out assaults again.
The Malian organization MUJAO was an al-Qaida affiliate in the area. Al-Sahrawi, on the other hand, recorded an audio statement in 2015 swearing allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
France, the territory’s former colonial power, has announced intentions to reduce its military presence in the region, with 2,000 troops expected to leave by early next year.
