Mali Announces the Death of a Senior Leader of a Group Affiliated with "ISIS"

Authorities in Mali announced in a statement broadcast on official television yesterday, Monday, that forces killed a leader of an affiliate group of "ISIS" in West Africa named Abu Hudhayfah, during a large-scale operation in the Menaka region in the north. The statement confirmed the death of Abu Hudhayfah on Sunday following the operation, without providing further details. The U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice program had set a reward of up to five million dollars for information about Abu Hudhayfah, regarding accusations of his involvement in an attack that occurred in 2017 in Niger, which resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers and four Nigerien soldiers. Over the past decade, attacks by groups linked to "al-Qaeda" and "ISIS" have led to the deaths of thousands of people in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, destabilizing the Sahel region of Africa. According to the International Organization for Migration, the prolonged security and humanitarian crisis has displaced over three million people in the region as of March.