The French anti-jihadist force in the Sahel, Barkhane, announced, on Friday, the elimination of an executive considered to be “important” in a jihadist group specializing in the laying of improvised mines.
Oumarou Mobo Modhi, said to be the head of a network of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), was “neutralized” in the Hombori region during a Barkhane operation “in coordination” with the Malian and U.S. armies, the Barkhane force said.
Oumarou Mobo Modhi “was an important group leader within Ansar ul Islam group. Directly subordinate to Jafar Dicko, the group’s emir, he operated in the area of the RN16 between Gossi and Gao and supervised in particular the installation of IEDs,” Barkhane said.
This group leader could “occasionally take command of a hundred men to carry out large-scale attacks.”
Ansar ul Islam had been created in 2016 on the Burkina Faso side of the border by Ibrahim Malam Dicko, a Burkina Faso preacher.
Central Mali is one of the main hotbeds of the Sahel conflict. Sixteen Malian soldiers were killed and nine others wounded on Wednesday in an IED attack on an army convoy.