Mali's military junta has announced a significant $3.5 million bounty for information that could lead to the capture or killing of Iyad Ag Ghaly, the leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). This move follows a substantial offensive initiated in April in collaboration with Tuareg rebels. The recent assaults mark the most extensive campaign against the Malian government in over a decade, resulting in numerous fatalities, including that of Defence Minister Sadio Camara. Ghaly, a former…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s federal government said Thursday that a planned airstrike in the al-Shabab-held town of Jilib on Dec. 10 killed two senior leaders of the extremist group, including a bomb-making chief who carried a $5 million U.S. bounty. The National Intelligence and Security Agency, known as NISA, said the strike killed Abdullahi Osman Mohamed, widely known as Engineer Ismail, describing him as al-Shabab’s chief explosives planner. The United States had offered up to $5 million for information leading to his…