A prominent figure in Al Mourabitoun is veteran Algerian jihadist
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who has been a key figure for years in insurgencies
across North Africa and the Saharan border region.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM) said it has joined forces with another militant group and
together they staged an attack last month on a hotel in Mali's capital
in which 20 people were killed, according to an audio message posted
online.
The leader of AQIM, Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, said in the audio speech his group was joining al Mourabitoun and the Nov. 20 attack on the Radisson Blu hotel was a symbol of their unity.
The
message was posted on Twitter on Thursday and seen by the SITE
Intelligence Group, which monitors radical Islamist organizations in the
media.
A prominent figure in Al Mourabitoun is veteran Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who has been a key figure for years in insurgencies across North Africa and the Saharan border region.
A third group, the Massina Liberation Front,
also claimed responsibility for the assault in Bamako. Analysts say it
is difficult to understand the organizational relationship between them.
The
hotel attack comes amid deteriorating security in Mali two years after a
French-led military operation to scatter Islamist militants who briefly
occupied the desert north.
French troops and a
10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force (MINUSMA) are struggling to
stabilise the former French colony and strikes on both Malian and
Western targets have spread further south and far beyond traditional
militant strongholds.
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