Former Polisario member killed in Mali

The Malian army announced they had killed Abu Hudhayfah, known as Hugo, who is considered one of the leaders of the Islamic State organization in the Greater Sahara, during an operation carried out on Sunday in the Indelimane area (Talatai, Gao).

This Sahrawi from the city of Laayoune had joined the group of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, who was killed in 2021 by the French army in Mali. Both were members of the Polisario Front, where they learned how to handle weapons and explosives in the Tindouf camps. More young people from the camps are joining terrorist movements in the Sahel.

The United States offered a reward of $5 million for any information on Abu Hudhayfah, due to his involvement in the 2017 attack in Tongo Tongo, Niger. This attack, claimed at the time by Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, resulted in the killing of four U.S. special forces soldiers tasked with training, advising, and assisting Nigerian forces in counterterrorism, as well as four Nigerian soldiers.