| Battle of Elakla | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mali War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France |
 Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown |
Djamel Okacha † Seifallah Ben Hassine † | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None |
11 killed Several prisoners[1] | ||||||
| |||||
The battle of Elakla took place on February 21, 2019, between French forces of Operation Barkhane and al-Qaeda aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
Prelude[]
After the creation of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin in 2017, a jihadist group that was the result of five Sahelian jihadist groups merging, French forces in Operation Barkhane aided Malian government efforts to fight the group. Djamel Okacha was a founding member of JNIM, and the second-in-command of the group.[2]
Battle[]
Barkhane forces launched an operation on the afternoon of February 21 after spotting three vehicles deemed suspicious moving throughout Tombouctou Region.[2] The French army launched drone strikes on the vehicles, before sending in ground forces, five helicopters, and an MQ-9 drone.[2] The aircraft took off at 1:13pm from Bou Djeheba, north of Timbuktu.[3] An hour later, one pick-up was spotted by the drones, before being joined by two more vehicles.[3] After a chase, two pick-ups stopped and surrendered after being shot at.[3] The ground forces chased the third truck, but were only able to catch it after a second group of commandos intervened as it tried to blend into civilians.[3] As the drivers felt trapped, they got out and shot at the French commandos, but were killed.[2]
Aftermath[]
The French government claimed 11 fighters were put out of action, including Djamel Okacha and his two main deputies.[4] Seifallah Ben Hassine, nom de guerre Abou Iyadh and leader of the Tunisian jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia, was also killed in the battle.[5] Okacha's death was confirmed by Sedane Ag Hita, another top member of JNIM, and later JNIM leader and founder Abdelmalek Droukdel.[6][7]
References[]
- ↑ "Comment les forces spéciales françaises ont éliminé le chef d'al-Qaïda pour le Sahara". 14 June 2019. https://www.opex360.com/2019/06/14/comment-les-forces-speciales-francaises-ont-elimine-le-chef-dal-qaida-pour-le-sahara/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 AFP (2023-10-02). "L'un des principaux chefs djihadistes au Sahel, Djamel Okacha, tué au Mali" (in fr). https://www.lalibre.be/international/2019/02/22/lun-des-principaux-chefs-djihadistes-au-sahel-djamel-okacha-tue-au-mali-W7CUSI5DXVDVVB2YLJNMODQ7RE/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lagneau, Laurent (2019-06-14). "Comment les forces spéciales françaises ont éliminé le chef d'al-Qaïda pour le Sahara" (in fr-FR). https://www.opex360.com/2019/06/14/comment-les-forces-speciales-francaises-ont-elimine-le-chef-dal-qaida-pour-le-sahara/.
- ↑ "Mali: Paris annonce l'élimination du chef jihadiste d'Aqmi Yahia Abou Hamman" (in fr). 2019-02-22. https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20190222-mali-france-annonce-elimination-chef-jihadiste-aqmi-okacha-yahia-abou-hamman.
- ↑ "Mort d'Abou Iyadh, figure du djihadisme tunisien, l'un des derniers à avoir fréquenté Ben Laden" (in fr). Le Monde.fr. 2020-03-04. https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/03/04/mort-d-abou-iyadh-figure-du-djihadisme-tunisien-l-un-des-derniers-a-avoir-frequente-ben-laden_6031799_3212.html.
- ↑ "Mali: Sidan Ag Hitta, chef terroriste, s'exprime dans un message" (in fr). 2019-03-11. https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20190311-mali-sidan-ag-hitta-chef-terroriste-s-exprime-message.
- ↑ "Le décès du leader djihadiste tunisien Abou Iyadh confirmé par AQMI – Jeune Afrique" (in fr-FR). 2020-03-04. https://www.jeuneafrique.com/905758/politique/le-deces-du-leader-djihadiste-tunisien-abou-iyadh-confirme-par-aqmi/.
The original article can be found at Battle of Elakla and the edit history here.