President Macron Says French Troops Successfully Kill ISIS Leader In Sahara Desert

Presiden Prancis Emmanuel Macron. (Wikimedia Commons / Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday French military forces had killed Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the leader of the Islamic State terrorist group in the Sahara Desert region.

"This is another great success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel", President Macron said in a tweet, without revealing the location of the operation, cited from Reuters, Thursday, September 16.

Sahrawi is the legendary leader of ISIS in the Sahel region of West Africa. His group targeted US troops in the deadliest attack in 2017, President Macron's office said.

In August 2020, Sahrawi personally ordered the killing of six French charity workers and their driver from Niger, he added.

President Macron said in July that France would soon begin to reshape its forces in the Sahel, where it is at the forefront of the fight against ISIS, and would eventually halve its military presence.

With no clear end in sight to the French operation and political turmoil especially in Mali, Paris grew frustrated.

It is not yet known whether this condition will affect the map of armed groups in West Africa or not. Last May, the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) militant group announced that the leader of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau had died by suicide.

Shekau was killed in pursuit by ISWAP on May 18 after fighting. Shekau is said to have committed suicide using an explosive device, according to a voice recording claiming to be ISWAP leader Abu Musab al-Barnawi.

A Nigerian intelligence report shared by a government official and Boko Haram researcher also said Shekau was dead.

Meanwhile, according to the Daily Trust on September 15, Abu Musab al-Barnawi was said to have died in Borno State, Nigeria at the end of August. The cause of al-Barnawi's death is not yet clear. Some say he was killed in armed clashes with Nigerian troops. However, there are also those who call it killed because of competition between armed groups.