Clashes began around the village of

Araouane Araouane or Arawan is a small village in the Malian part of the Sahara Desert, lying north of Timbuktu on the caravan route to the salt-mining centre of Taoudenni. The village once served as an entrepôt in the trans-Saharan trade. History Be ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Taoudénit Region Taoudénit is a region of Mali legislatively created in 2012 from the northern part of Timbuktu Cercle in Tombouctou Region. Actual implementation of the region began on 19 January 2016 with the appointment of Abdoulaye Alkadi as the region's gov ...

, after

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

forces launched an attack against

JNIM Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (, JNIM; , GSIM; ) is a Salafi Jihadist organisation in the Maghreb and West Africa formed by the merger of Ansar Dine, al-Mourabitoun and the Saharan branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (a militant ...

militants in the area. The initial and subsequent engagements were part of

Operation Barkhane Operation Barkhane (French language, French: ''Opération Barkhane'') was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's S ...

, the goal of which is to eliminate JNIM commanders in the region.

Clashes

forces fired on a JNIM vehicle in the

area on 29 March 2018, killing two militants and capture one. It was later confirmed that one of the dead was Moroccan Said al-Maghribi, an AQIM-JNIM commander and explosives expert close to AQIM's regional leader and a senior leader of JNIM, Djamel Okacha. A second engagement was started by French forces on 6 April 2018, when they attacked JNIM militants in the same area, first with an

airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

and then with

ground forces An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by p ...

. The battle resulted in the death of JNIM

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

n commander Ayman al-Shanqiti, along with five other militants. One militant was also captured

Aftermath

In response to the clashes, the JNIM attacked the

MINUSMA The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (, MINUSMA) was a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. MINUSMA was established on 25 April 2013 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2100 to stabilise ...

base in

Timbuktu Airport Timbuktu Airport is an airport in Timbuktu, Mali that opened on April 15, 1961. Airlines and destinations The start of Sky Mali's service to Timbuktu in February 2021 marked the first commercial flights to the airport since the city was captur ...

, known informally as the "super camp". One MINUSMA peacekeeper was killed, whilst 14 others were wounded; however, 15 militants were killed and the attempted raid was repelled.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Battles of the Mali War in 2018 Battles of the Mali War involving France Taoudénit Region in the Mali War Battles involving Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin March 2018 in Mali April 2018 in Mali