Unknown fate awaits AQIM after Abdelmalek Droukdel killed

The fate of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is unknown after French forces managed to kill AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel during an operation in northern Mali near the Algerian border.

Details of the operation

On Friday, June 5, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said on the Twitter, “On June 3, the French armed forces, with the support of local partners, killed the Emir of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, Abdelmalek Droukdel, along with several of his closest aides, during an operation in North Mali.”

Droukdel was one of the most important terrorist leaders in the Sahel-Sahel region for twenty years, and his death represents a painful blow for al-Qaeda in that region due to his full knowledge of the terrain, in addition to being one of the terrorist organization’s major leaders in North Africa.

Droukdel’s death has caused a state of confusion in the terrorist scene in the Maghreb region, whether at the level of AQIM or the small groups that fall under the banner of the terrorist organization, where some of these groups hold major differences because of some of them joining ISIS, which is led in the region by Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, a former leader of al-Qaeda.

The Sahel and Maghreb countries suffer from weak security services, encouraging terrorists to carry out operations to prove their presence.

Beginning

In September 2006, Droukdel announced the formal alliance between his Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and al-Qaeda, and he pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden, who was the leader of al-Qaeda at the time. In a statement dated January 24, 2007, Droukdel declared that GSPC would merge into al-Qaeda and change its name to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb after he had consulted with bin Laden.

AQIM launched a series of terrorist attacks under the leadership of Droukdel, such as car bomb attacks in October 2006 on police stations in Dergana and Reghaïa in the eastern outskirts of Algiers, an attack on a bus carrying foreigners working for the American-Algerian oil company Brown & Root Condor near Bouchaoui in December 2006, the attack on a convoy of the Russian company Stroytransgaz in March 2007, and seven car bomb attacks on security installations in the Algerian provinces of Boumerdes and Tizi Ouzou in February 2007.

He also supervised the terrorist attacks on the Government Palace and the Office of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Algiers Police in April 2007. These car bombs killed 33 people and injured 245 others, mostly passers-by and residents of the neighborhood.

December attacks

AQIM had claimed responsibility for the December 2007 attacks on United Nations offices and the Constitutional Court building in Algiers, and in August 2008, Droukdel oversaw the implementation of three suicide attacks that killed many civilians in the provinces of Boumerdes, Bouira, and Tizi Ouzou.

In November 2012, Droukdel established an alliance between AQIM, Ansar Dine and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA), setting up strongholds in Mali and developing a joint strategy.

Droukdel, nicknamed Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud, was killed at the age of 48. He had been born in a village in the Algerian province of Blida and was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in North Africa. He led militants in northern Mali and had an effective role in kidnapping local and western citizens in several attacks in Tunisia, Niger and Mali.