French military Arrests the Leader of the Islamic State In Mali

The French military announced Wednesday that French troops in Mali had seized a senior member of the Islamic State’s Sahel affiliate.

“In the night of 11-12 June, an operation of the Barkhane force allowed the capture of Oumeya Ould Albakaye, a senior figure in the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS),” a spokesman for the chief of military told AFP.

The capture comes as France prepares to leave Mali after nearly a decade of fighting a terrorist insurgency in the country.

Albakaye will be kept by French forces for several days for questioning before being turned over to Malian authorities, according to the military.

Albakaye was originally viewed as a possible successor to former IS-GS leader Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, who was killed by French forces in August 2021, according to a security source who did not want to be identified.

Albakaye was a regional head in the group, managing the districts of Gourma in Mali and Oudalan in neighboring Burkina Faso. He was an explosives expert.

According to the military, he is responsible for a huge number of civilian abuses in those countries.

Within the next few months, France will complete its withdrawal from Mali, handing over control of its key military station at Gao to Malian soldiers.

After the French military seized power in Bamako in August 2020, relations between Mali and France deteriorated.

The junta has delayed calling a new election and has strengthened connections with Moscow, bringing in “military instructors” whom France and its allies accuse of being mercenaries paid from the pro-Kremlin Wagner group.

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