Mali says it killed extremist commander who took part in one of worst attacks on US forces in Africa

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A senior Islamic State group commander wanted in connection with one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces in Africa has been killed in an operation by Malian security forces, said the country’s army.

Abu Huzeifa, known under the pseudonym Higgo, was a commander in the group known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. The State Department had announced a reward of up to $5 million for information concerning him.

Huzeifa allegedly helped lead the 2017 assault on U.S. and Nigerien forces in Tongo Tongo, Niger. Four Americans and four Nigerien soldiers were killed.

Following the attack, the U.S. military scaled back operations with local partners in the vast Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert.

“The identification and evidence collected confirm the death of Abou Huzeifa or Higgo, a renowned foreign terrorist,” the Malian army said in a statement on Monday.

Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, the leader of a Tuareg armed group allied with the state, said his forces took part in the operation and that it took place in northern Mali.

A photo of Huzeifa on state television showed him in military fatigues with a long black beard and a machine gun in his hand.

Mali has been facing a growing insurgency by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group for more than a decade. The country has also experienced two coups since 2020 during a wave of political instability in West and Central Africa.

The commander’s assassination this weekend “could mean less violence against civilians in the region, but the threat remains high as there are certainly leaders with similar brutality ready to take over and prove themselves,” said Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for. le Nouveau Sud, a think tank based in Morocco.

Colonel Assimi Goita, who took charge of Mali after the second coup of 2021, has pledged to end the insurgency. The junta severed military ties with France amid growing frustration at the lack of progress after a decade of assistance, and instead turned to Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group for support in matters of security.

Mali has also formed a security alliance with neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso, which are also battling increasingly serious insurgencies and have experienced coups in recent years. Conflict analysts say violence has worsened under their regimes. Their security forces are overwhelmed in the fight against jihadist violence.