A top commander of the Islamic State group, implicated in the deaths of US forces in Niger, was eliminated in an operation conducted by Malian state forces, according to the country’s military.
Identified as Abu Huzeifa, also known as Higgo, he held a prominent position within the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. The US State Department had offered a reward of up to $5 million for any information leading to his capture.
Huzeifa was suspected of playing a key role in orchestrating a deadly attack in 2017 on US and Nigerien forces in Tongo Tongo, Niger, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans and four Nigerien soldiers. Subsequent to this incident, the US military scaled back its operations with local partners in the Sahel.
“The identification and evidence gathered confirm the demise of Abu Huzeifa, also known as Higgo, a notorious foreign terrorist,” stated the Malian army in a late Monday announcement.
Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, leader of a Tuareg armed faction aligned with the government, reported that his forces were involved in the operation, which unfolded in northern Mali.
A photograph of Huzeifa broadcast on state television depicted him in military attire, sporting a lengthy black beard and holding a firearm.
Mali has grappled with two coups since 2020 amid a wave of political instability sweeping West and Central Africa. The nation has been contending with an increasingly grave insurgency led by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for more than ten years.
While the elimination of the Islamic State commander over the weekend “may result in reduced violence against civilians in the region, the threat persists, with likely successors poised to take control and assert their authority,” remarked Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for the New South, a think tank based in Morocco.
Colonel Assimi Goita, who assumed power following the second coup in 2021, has pledged to quash the insurgency. The ruling junta severed military relations with France due to mounting frustration over the lack of progress after a decade of assistance, turning instead to Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group for security support.
Additionally, Mali has forged a security alliance with Niger and Burkina Faso, both of which are combating increasingly severe insurgencies and have experienced coups in recent years. Despite promises from their military leaderships to curtail insurgent activity following the overthrow of their respective elected governments, conflict analysts note that violence has intensified under their regimes. These three nations share borders in the conflict-ridden Sahel region, and their security forces are overstretched in combating jihadist violence.
