An ISIS militant with a $5million (£3.5 million) price tag on his head for killing US soldiers in Africa has been taken out by the French military.
News of the operation against Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, who was the leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and was on America’s most-wanted list, was announced overnight in a tweet by French president Emmanuel Macron, who said Sahrawi had been “neutralised”.
“It’s another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel,” he said, referring to the area of mainly desert – including Niger and Mali – where groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda operate.
Mr Macron didn’t disclose the details of the killing or say where it took place.
Sahrawi’s group targeted US soldiers in an attack in 2017.
That ambush killed four US servicemen – Army Sgt David Johnson, 25, Staff Sgt Bryan Black, 35, Staff Sgt Jeremiah Johnson, 39, and Staff Sgt Dustin Wright, 29 – as well as four Nigerien soldiers.
Two American soldiers and eight Nigerien soldiers were also severely wounded in that attack, which resulted in the bounty being put on his head by the Americans two years later.
Mr Macron’s office said Moroccan-born Sahrawi also personally ordered last year’s killing of six French charity workers and their Nigerien driver, who were gunned down by a group of terrorists on motorbikes.
Sahrawi, who was in his 40s, was nearly killed by the French in 2018, but intelligence sources said that on that occasion he “escaped on foot in the middle of the night with some of his men”.
In the wake of increasing losses, Macron announced a reduction of 50% in the French military presence.
Paris was growing frustrated by the ongoing operation, despite France’s continued involvement and the political turmoil in the region, particularly in Mali.
In his statement, Mr Macron remembered the French soldiers who had been killed by Sahrawi and his cell and said: “Their sacrifice is not in vain. With our African, European and American partners, we will continue this fight.”