In Mali on Tuesday (June 15), Nigerian and French soldiers, who led a joint reconnaissance operation, fought against jihadists from the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara (EIGS).
A Nigerian soldier was killed, another wounded and two French soldiers from the Barkhane force were also injured in this operation, according to information provided by the French General Staff on Wednesday, June 16. These fights took place in In Arabane, near Ménaka, in Mali, in the Three Borders area. An area where several measures have been taken in recent days, which has led to the arrest of several heads of the Islamic State.
The joint deployment of Barkhane and Nigerian forces is still ongoing. The French army gives few details, but evokes “a dozen” terrorists killed or captured and announces the arrest, last Friday near Ménaka, of “a cadre from the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara”: Dadi Ould Chaïb, better known as Abu Darda or Abu Dardar. A former member of the Mujao, a jihadist group that occupied northern Mali in 2012 with Ansar Dine and Aqmi, has since joined the Islamic State. He was arrested for the first time in 2014 and handed over to the Malian authorities and released since October last year as part of a prisoner exchange that allowed the release of four hostages, including Soumaïla Cissé and Sophie Pétronin.
Strangely enough, this negotiation had taken place with Jnim (support group for Islam and Muslims), linked to Al-Qaeda, a major rival in the EIGS area. From a French security source, Abou Darda also went through Al Mourabitoune, the group of warriors founded by Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
Since his release, Abu Darda has practiced traditional justice in the Tin Hama area, where he is believed to have participated in the mutilation of three men accused of theft last month.
The French army states that at the time of his arrest, Abou Darda was carrying “an automatic weapon, a night vision telescope, a combat vest, a telephone and a radio”.
Several sources also report the arrest of three other EIGS officials, including Rhissa Al Sahraoui, also a former pillar of Mujao, who several researchers and local soldiers describe as a senior Islamic State official, close to the organization’s chief in the area, Abou Walid Al Sahraoui .
The French army did not want to confirm this arrest, nor did it specify whether the detainees were still being interrogated by the Barkhane force or whether they had already been handed over to the Malian authorities.
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