Mali: new clashes between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
Jihadist fighters in Mali (Illustration).
AP Photo / File
Text by: David Baché
3 min
In October, heavy fighting between fighters from the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda was reported.
This has been the case again for ten days in the Malian Gourma region.
The local branches of the two terrorist organizations, AQIM and EIGS, compete in the Sahel for control of certain areas.
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A
previous major battle
had also taken place last spring, in the zone of the Three Mali-Niger-Burkina borders.
The clashes between AQIM and EIGS would mobilize hundreds of fighters, according to leaders of armed groups in the North, signatories of the peace agreement but observers aware of the activity of jihadist groups on their ground, military sources, as well as analysts of the security situation in the region.
The most recent clashes are concentrated in Gourma and more precisely in the communes of Indelimane, Ntillit or even N'Daki, in the region of Gao.
Most often these are
very localized “
encounter fights
”, targeted assassinations or ambushes, and not
large-scale pitched battles.
Between April and June this year, it was already in this area of Liptako-Gourma that the local branches of the Islamic State group and
al-Qaeda
clashed.
Since then, the fighting between the two international jihadist organizations had calmed down,
with regard to the Sahelian terrain
, without however ceasing completely.
"Advantage at GSIM"
The fighters of the Islamic State would have for the first time gained certain victories, thanks in particular to men coming from Nigeria.
“
We saw people speaking languages that are not known in Mali,
” reports a local source.
These reinforcements are reported by several sources which do not necessarily agree on their scope.
In recent days, it is the support group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM or JNIM, according to its acronym in Arabic), linked to Aqmi, which has taken over.
The clashes are said to have resulted in dozens of deaths, ultimately with a "
GSIM advantage
" on which the various sources contacted agree, even if no reliable assessment is available.
"
These fights are part of a long time
", explains above all a high-ranking officer stationed in the region, who believes that the current battle is largely "
observation and wear
" and that the final outcome is so still far.
Barkhane Strikes
Several sources finally mention air strikes by the French Barkhane force: carried out over the past few days, they would have mainly targeted AQIM positions, which would have had the effect of favoring the fighters of the Islamic State group.
Barkhane does not wish to make "
any comment
" on the subject, but specifies to carry out its operations "
according to available information
", "
without discrimination
" between enemy terrorist groups.
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Mali
Terrorism
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