French minister for the armed forces, Florence Parly, tweeted Thursday that military and intelligence agents had contributed to a “long-term hunt” for the ISIS-GS leader, which she described as a “decisive blow” for the group.
“This is another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel,” President Macron tweeted.
ISIS-GS was established in 2015 after al Sahraoui, broke from the al Qaeda associated al-Murabitun group — another splinter group based in Africa.
In 2017, al Sahraoui claimed responsibility for the ambush of United States forces in Niger that killed four American soldiers.
The US State Department designated ISIS-GS as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2018, and announced in 2019 a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of al Sahraoui.
He was responsible for “cowardly and particularly deadly” attacks targeting civilians and security…
