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November 2015 Mali Hotel Attack
On 20 November 2015, Islamist militants took 170 hostages and killed 20 of them in a mass shooting at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. Includes video. The siege was ended when Malian special forces, backed by U.S. and French personnel, launched an assault on the hotel to recover the surviving hostages. Al-Mourabitoun claimed that it carried out the attack "in cooperation with" al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb; an al Qaeda member confirmed that the two groups cooperated in the attack. Background Following the Libyan civil war, many ethnic Tuareg who had fought for the Gaddafi government and the rebels took their weapons and left for Azawad (a region in Northern Mali that the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) wants to be an independent state). Following several previously failed Tuareg rebellions, the MNLA managed to take over the area and declare independence. However, the secular movement was soon overrun by Islamist-oriented gro ...
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Bamako
Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamako is the nation's administrative center. The city proper is a Cercles of Mali, cercle in its own right. Bamako's Inland port, river port is located in nearby Koulikoro, along with a major regional trade and conference center. Bamako is the seventh-largest West Africa, West African urban center after Lagos, Abidjan, Kano (city), Kano, Ibadan, Dakar, and Accra. Locally manufactured goods include textiles, processed meat, and metal goods as well as mining. Commercial fishing occurs on the Niger River. In recent years, Bamako has seen significant urban development, with the construction of modern buildings, shopping malls, and infrastructure projects aimed at improving the quality of life for its residents. The city is home to many notable ins ...
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Tuareg People
The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; Endonym and exonym, endonym, depending on Tuareg languages#Subclassification, variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berbers, Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralism, pastoralists, who principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and as far as northern Nigeria, with small communities in Chad and Sudan known as the ''Kinnin''. The Tuareg speak Tuareg languages, languages of the same name, also known as ''Tamasheq'', which belong to the Berber languages, Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. They are a semi-nomadic people who mostly practice Islam, and are descended from the indigenous Berber communities of Northern Africa, whose ancestry has been described as a mosaic of local North Africa, Northern African (Taforalt), Middle Eastern, Genetic history of Europe, European (Early Eu ...
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Amadou Kouffa
Amadou Koufa, ''nom de guerre'' of Amadou Diallo, also spelled Hamadoun Kouffa or Amadou Kouffa (born 1961) is a Malian Fulani jihadist and preacher who founded Katiba Macina, later part of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. Early life and preaching Diallo was born around 1961 in Saraféré, Niafunké Cercle, Tombouctou Region, Mali. He came from a poor family (a "little noble", a Bary) as the son of an imam who did not have a positive maraboutic lineage. Diallo's nickname, Koufa, came as a result of his village. He conducted Islamic training in Bankass Cercle for several years, and later the Inner Niger Delta. Koufa then became a preacher, preaching in Pakistan and Mauritania. In the 1990's, Koufa became close with the Dawah sect of Islam, meeting Iyad Ag Ghaly in the 2000's. Koufa traveled the Macina Cercle shortly afterward following Ghaly's teachings, and advocated for a revitalization of Islam. Koufa called for an Islamic Republic in Mali, and became immensely popular i ...
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Macina Liberation Front
The Katibat Macina, also known as the Macina Liberation Movement or Macina Liberation Front (MLF, ), is a militant Islamist group that operates in Mali. It is an affiliate of Ansar Dine. Origins and membership In March 2012, the President of Mali Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup d'état over his handling of an insurgency in Northern Mali. As a consequence of the instability that followed, Mali's three largest northern cities—Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu—were overrun by a mixture of Islamists and Tuareg Nationalists. By July, the Tuareg were pushed out by their former allies, and the area became dominated by Jihadist groups: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Dine, and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). In January 2013, the Islamists captured the town of Konna in Central Mali, after fierce fighting with Malian forces. They were driven out by French forces days later, the start of a French-led military intervention known as Operatio ...
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Northern Mali Conflict
{{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , width = 35% , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 300 , caption = Military situation in Mali {{as of, lc=yes, 2025, 5, 31. For a detailed map, see Template:Mali War detailed map, here. , date = Tuareg rebellion (2012), 16 January 2012 – present({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=01, day1=16, year1=2012) , place = Mali(with spillover into Algeria, Burkina Faso and Niger) , status = ''List of ongoing military conflicts, Ongoing'' , combatant1 = 2012–2013{{plainlist, {{flag, Mali ---- 2013–2022/23{{plainlist, *{{flag, Mali *{{flag, France *{{flagicon image, Flag of the United Nations.svg United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, MINUSMA{{efn, MINUSMA, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stab ...
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African-led International Support Mission To Mali
The African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) was an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) organized military mission sent to support the government of ECOWAS member nation Mali against Islamist rebels in the Northern Mali conflict. The mission was authorized with UN Security Council Resolution 2085, passed on 20 December 2012, which "authorizes the deployment of an African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) for an initial period of one year. The AFISMA mission transferred its authority to MINUSMA on 1 July 2013, that is, AFISMA mission ended and MINUSMA mission began, with AFISMA troops becoming MINUSMA troops. Initially, the mission was to begin in September 2013, but after an unexpected advance by the rebel forces in early January 2013 and the subsequent French intervention, ECOWAS decided to immediately deploy the AFISMA forces. On 17 January, Nigeria began deploying air and ground forces to Mali. The Nigerian deployment was fol ...
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Operation Serval
Operation Serval () was a French military operation in Mali. The aim of the operation was to oust Islamic militants from the north of Mali, who had begun a push into the center of Mali. Operation Serval followed the United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 2085, Resolution 2085 of 20 December 2012 and an official request by the Malian interim government for French military assistance.Security Council Authorizes Deployment of African-led International Support Mission in Mali for Initial Year-Long Period
(full text of the resolution)
The operation ended on 15 July 2014, and was replaced by Operation Barkhane, launched on 1 August 2014 to fight Islamist fighters in the Sahel. Three of ...
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Ansar Dine
Ansar Dine ( ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''), meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) (Defenders of the Faith) and also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD), was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ansar Dine sought to impose absolute sharia across Mali. The group took over the city of Timbuktu in 2012, which prompted the French-led intervention, Operation Serval. The organization is not to be confused with the Sufi movement ''Ançar Dine'', founded in Southern Mali in the 1990s by Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara, which is fundamentally opposed to militant Islamism. Ansar Dine was opposed to Sufi shrines, and it had destroyed a number of such shrines. Ansar Dine was active from March 2012 until March 2017, when it merged with other militant Islamist groups to form Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. Organization Membership Ansar Dine had its main base among the Ifora tribe from the southern part of the Tuaregs' homeland. ...
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MOJWA
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (abbreviated MOJWA) or the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (abbreviated MUJWA; ''Jamāʿat at-tawḥīd wal-jihād fī gharb ʾafrīqqīyā''; , abbreviated MUJAO), was a militant Islamist organisation that broke off from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb with the intended goal of spreading ''jihad'' across a larger section of West Africa, as well as demanding the expulsion of all French interests (especially military and resources) that operate in West Africa, which they regard as "colonialist occupiers". Its operations were largely limited to southern Algeria and northern Mali. The group continued to be affiliated with AQIM and was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council in 2012. One faction of the group merged with Mokhtar Belmokhtar's Al-Mulathameen into a new group called Al-Mourabitoun in 2013. History The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) broke with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghre ...
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Azawadi Declaration Of Independence
On 6 April 2012, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (French acronym: MNLA) unilaterally declared Azawad independent from the Republic of Mali in the wake of a rebellion which was preceded by a string of other Tuareg rebellions. It is called the Independent State of Azawad. History Following the return of 5,000 soldiers after the Libyan Civil War in 2011 and the formation of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, an insurgency commenced on 17 January 2012 with an attack in the Kidal Region, near the border with Algeria. Following the March coup d'état, the rebels made further inroads to capture the three biggest cities of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu in three days, respectively. At this point, other factions joined the fighting, including the Islamist Ansar Dine and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa. Despite reports of Ansar Dine taking control of most of what was initially captured by or with the help of the MNLA, the group estab ...
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Tuareg Rebellion (other)
Tuareg rebellion may refer to various armed conflicts involving the Tuareg people of the northern parts of Mali and Niger and the western parts of Libya: *Kaocen revolt (1916–1917) *Tuareg rebellion (1962–1964) *Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995) *Tuareg rebellion (2007–2009) *Tuareg rebellion (2012) *Tuareg involvement in the Mali War (2012–) *Tuareg involvement in the Second Libyan Civil War (2014–2020) See also

*Ansar Dine *Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa *Tuareg militias of Ghat {{Disambiguation Tuareg rebellions, Civil wars in Mali Civil wars in Niger ...
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