Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) have continued their offensive against the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) with the neutralisation of Souleymane Ag Bakawa, alias “Soldat,”.
The insurgent leader is a notorious figure responsible for numerous atrocities in the Ménaka region and the operation against him comes just three weeks after the capture of another senior jihadist near Tessit.
According to a statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces seen by APA, FAMa conducted a precision operation in Chimam, in the Tinfadimata area of Ménaka (northeastern Mali), that led to the elimination of Ag Bakawa, described as “one of the key leaders” of the Islamic State group in the Sahel.
The jihadist commander was known for leading a cell that “spread terror across Ménaka and its surroundings,” the statement said.
He was “directly involved in several civilian abductions and targeted killings” of both military personnel and civilians.
Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, a member of Mali’s transitional council and leader of the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA), stated that the operation was based on “precise intelligence” targeting Souleymane Ag Bakawa, a former soldier turned commander of the insurgency in the region.
He added that the militant was behind the killing of two police officers and several MSA fighters in Ménaka in recent weeks, as well as the execution of local notables and the recent kidnapping of Ménaka’s civil society president, Sidi Barka.
June 29 capture of “Oubel” in Tessit
This latest success follows a major operation at the end of June in the Gao region, where Malian forces captured Abraham Boubacar, alias “Oubel,” a top ISGS commander and head of the group’s Tactical Action Unit in the Tessit sector. He was apprehended along with ten of his fighters and their equipment in a strategic area near the tri-border zone.
Announced on June 29 by the military’s General Staff, the capture of “Oubel” marked a serious blow to the operational capacity of the group in northeastern Mali. As the ISGS field commander in Tessit—a critical border town—he was overseeing cross-border terrorist activities.
His arrest, along with ten others, was hailed as a major intelligence breakthrough. Tessit, under Oubel’s leadership, has long served as a key corridor for jihadist infiltration into neighbouring countries. Notably, on June 5, over 40 Malian soldiers were killed in an ISGS attack in the area.
The military emphasised that the captured militants were being held securely and would be properly identified, while guaranteeing their physical safety. This assurance underscored the strategic value of any intelligence that “Oubel” could provide on ISGS networks and operations.
Just 24 hours before Oubel’s arrest, another ISGS operative known as “Abou Dahdah”—an ideologue and IED expert—was neutralised near Ménaka.
Located in the border zone between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, the Tessit area has become a hotspot of insecurity, serving as a rear base for cross-border terrorist operations.
Capturing a senior commander like Oubel alive, along with his network, represents a rare opportunity for Malian forces to dismantle ISGS structures in the Gao region, where the group—officially designated a province of the Islamic State since 2022—remains active.
The Malian General Staff described the string of recent operations as “meticulously planned and professionally executed,” reaffirming FAMa’s “unwavering commitment” to defending the nation’s territorial integrity and eliminating all terrorist threats.
Military authorities also called on the public to “remain vigilant, united, and confident” in their armed forces, which “continue the tireless fight for a united, stable, and sovereign Mali.”
This latest campaign illustrates the sustained military pressure FAMa is applying to the leadership of jihadist groups, as part of Mali’s broader security strategy in a region plagued by over a decade of extremist violence.
AC/sf/lb/as/APA