Mali: the army says it has captured a figure of the Islamic State group

In a statement, the army said that units engaged in the Menaka region (east) “captured Ahmad Ag Ditta, a leading leader of the EIGS”.

The army presents him as “responsible for a large number of exactions and abuses of all kinds against innocent civilian populations and sponsor of attacks against the Malian armed forces”.

The army also indicates that the operations carried out on Sunday allowed “the neutralization of several EIGS fighters as well as the recovery of various military equipment, including numerous improvised explosive devices”.

Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by the actions of groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization and the violence of community and villainous groups.

Since seizing power in coups in 2020 and 2021, the military has broken the old alliance with former dominant power France and then turned militarily and politically towards Russia.

The UN stabilization mission in Mali (Minusma) also ended in 2023, at the urging of the junta.

Last week, the NGO Human Rights Watch denounced in a report the “atrocities” committed against civilians by the Malian army and its Russian ally Wagner, as well as by armed Islamist groups, since the withdrawal of the Malian mission. UN a year ago.