Mali’s armed Islamist groups are locked in a bitter turf war against other jihadist insurgents, culminating in fierce skirmishes in the eastern region of Menaka in recent days.
It’s a fratricidal war between jihadists which has gone out of control.
For the past 48 hours, new clashes have been taking place between fighters of the ‘Groupe de Soutien à l’Islam et aux Musulmans’ (GSIM) and what should have been their brother in arms now turned enemies of the Islamic State in the Sahel (EIS).
“Clashes between JNIM and DAESH reported this afternoon southwest of Insinsnane,” Fahad Ag Almahmoud, State Secretary of the Tuareg Self-Defense Group, Imghad and Allies (GATIA), wrote on twitter on October 29.
These clashes have turned, for the moment, to the advantage of the GSIM, a security source told APA.
According to the same source, the jihadist group, which is close to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has “taken over the entire eastern and south-eastern area of Menaka as far as Tamalat and Insinsnane.
In March, the Islamic State in the Sahel killed several dozen civilians in the area inhabited primarily by Daoussahak Tuareg.
According to our source, EIS is holding only Anderamboukane, near the Niger border, where “it has retreated,” even though it is under threat of a new assault by the GSIM, which was poised to recapture the town.
On Sunday, October 30, a brief ceasefire was observed by the belligerants.
The resumption of clashes between the two jihadist groups is linked to an incident which occurred in early September.
From the 6th to the 8th of that month, the EIS drove the GSIM from Talataye, a village in the Ansongo circle, 1,283 kilometers northeast of Bamako, after intense fighting lasting several hours and in which both sides lost dozens of combatants.
In issue 356 of its weekly magazine “al-Naba” (the News, in Arabic), the Islamic State claimed to have killed some 60 members of the al-Qaeda militia.
“The defeat of Talataye has tarnished the image of the GSIM and consolidated the myth of the invincibility of the EIS, hence the mobilization of the GSIM in recent weeks for this major offensive,” said a source who is generally well informed about the activities of jihadists in the Sahel.
The objective of the jihadist alliance is to “attack and take the stronghold of the EIS located between Ansongo and Menaka, towards the border with Niger.”
For the Gsim, the aim is to “wash away the affront of Talataye” and to “rearm its fighters morally shaken by this defeat.”
Through this new offensive, Iyad Ag Ghali’s followers are also seeking to “restore their image among the local population.”
During September’s clashes, a Malian army Sukhoi 25 (SU-25) aircraft made a reconnaissance flight to the area.
AC/id/fss/as/APA