Final Touches
NIGER
French forces killed a leading Islamic State militant in Niger this week in a military operation that is likely to be one of France’s last in West Africa, France24 reported.
French officials said that Soumana Boura was killed in an airstrike in northwestern Niger. Boura was a key suspect in the August 2020 murder of six French aid workers and two local guides during a visit to a nature reserve.
The jihadist organization claimed responsibility for the killings. French military officials said that Boura had recorded the executions. French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the murders as a terrorist attack and threatened repercussions.
Boura’s death comes four months after France’s military announced the killing of Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahrawi, the head of the Islamic State Greater Sahara (ISGS), and the alleged mastermind behind the killings of the aid workers.
Military representatives said Boura’s death helped “to fight against the expansion of ISGS and to stop it taking control of some parts of the three-border region” between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Meanwhile, France is winding down and reorienting its operations in the Sahel region after nine years. It has already withdrawn from three bases in northern Mali and is refocusing attention on the cities of Gao, Menaka and Niamey.
The 5,000 troops in the region will be reduced to half by 2023.
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