Al-Qaeda Sahel branch claims the death of two French soldiers

The Support Group for Islam and Muslims, a jihadist alliance affiliated with Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack that claimed the lives of two French soldiers in Mali on Saturday, in a statement released by its propaganda platform Al -Zallaqa. The GSIM (or Jnim according to the Arabic acronym) confirms having “detonated an explosive device” when the vehicle of two soldiers of the Barkhane anti-jihadist force passed, including a woman, “bringing the total death toll to 5 dead in less than one week ”, according to this press release.

Sergeant Yvonne Huynh and Brigadier Loïc Risser, both from the 2nd Hussar Regiment of Haguenau, near Strasbourg were killed in the Ménaka region (north-east). Five days earlier, three other French soldiers had been killed in the border area with Niger and Burkina Faso during an escort mission.

The “most dangerous enemy”

In total, 50 French soldiers have been killed in the Sahel since 2013 in the Serval and then Barkhane operations. The GSIM, on the other hand, claims its innocence in the attack on two villages in western Niger near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, which left 100 dead on Saturday, the most deadly committed by jihadists against civilians in Sahel.

“This attack, whoever the perpetrators, is no different from the massacres of the French occupier and its criminal militias,” said the GSIM, which claims that its “jihad” (holy war) is not turned against his people and promises retaliation in the short or long term.

An implicit allusion to its great rival in the region, the Islamic State group in the greater Sahara (EIGS), against which the fighting has been very violent in the area for several months. In 2020, France hired 600 additional troops in the Sahel, bringing its strength to around 5,100. It is currently reviewing the evolution of this commitment.

At the end of November, the commander of Barkhane, Marc Conruyt, had designated before the French deputies the GSIM as the “most dangerous enemy” in the Sahel. A year earlier, EIGS had been designated as enemy number one in the region. The press release was authenticated by the American center for monitoring jihadist sites SITE.