Mali

Officials in the African nation of Burkina Faso believe members of a former elite presidential security unit are offering their expertise to an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency in the country. In addition to offering their knowledge and expertise, some believe they are also participating in attacks against civilians and government targets, as part of a […]

The merger of Mali’s main jihadist groups earlier this month was endorsed on Friday by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), whose leader rallied other jihadist organizations to follow suit and “achieve unity”. The SITE Intelligence Group quoted AQIM’s Abu Musab Abdul Wadud congratulating the groups for joining forces under the command of veteran […]

Since World War II, U.N. peacekeepers have been dispatched to 69 conflicts — civil wars, border disputes and failed states. But now they are confronting an unsettling new threat: al-Qaeda. Here in the vast, lawless desert of northwest Africa, their convoys are being torn apart by improvised explosive devices and their compounds blasted by 1,000-pound […]

Al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate says a group linked to it carried out the suicide attack that killed at least 50 people in northern Mali. A vehicle packed with explosives detonated at a camp housing soldiers and members of rival armed groups in the region’s main city, Gao. Mali’s northern desert region has been restive since […]

Author’s note: “They’re Still At War” will be a multi-part series dealing with underreported or fully ignored low- to medium-intensity conflicts around the world. Over the next few weeks, we’ll cover countries such as Central African Republic, Congo, Yemen, and others. The first part deals with Mali. France’s military intervention in Mali has been mostly over for […]

Sorry for the delay on this article, guys. I was going to walk you through the groups operating in the area. Then I see that my fellow SOFREP writer Derek Gannon did a great job explaining the main groups involved in this article, so I decided it was best to have a rethink and take you […]

Gunmen raided the house of a U.S. aid worker in central Niger overnight, killing his two guards before driving him off across the desert towards Mali, the mayor of the town said on Saturday. “First they came on a motorbike and killed the guards,” the mayor of Abalak, Ahmed Dilo, told Reuters by telephone. “Then […]

A local official says gunmen have killed around 20 Niger soldiers guarding a camp of Malian refugees. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press, said Thursday the assailants targeted a military post near the camp in the Tasara region. He could not say how many […]

In a historic first, the International Criminal Court has classified destroying cultural artifacts as a war crime. It follows the trial of jihadist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who pleaded guilty Monday to destroying religious monuments in the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali. “I’m willing to accept the judgment of the chamber, but I will do […]

Islamist militants killed 17 Malian soldiers and wounded 35 when they attacked an army base in the center of the country, firing on troop positions, burning buildings and pillaging shops, the government said. The attack is the biggest for months on the army in Mali, a country that faces a growing threat from Islamist groups […]

At least once a week, perhaps more frequently, I plan on providing an update on news about special operations. This will be a listing of news events relating to SOF that could be of interest to the reader with links to the source of that news. The content could be a news story, information on […]

Once a center of learning and culture, the city housed a priceless collection of manuscripts: volumes of poetry, encyclopedias, and even sexual manuals that invoked the name of Allah. Threatened with destruction, the manuscripts were spirited out of the city to safety in a thrilling, cloak-and-dagger operation.