In Niger, one of the assassins of the six French aid workers killed in August 2020 was “neutralized” by a French strike, announced the general staff on Tuesday, December 21. Soumana Boura, one of the local leaders of the Islamic State in the Great Sahara (EIGS), had been wanted for months. He had been identified as one of the three attackers who, on August 9, 2020, chased the vehicle of French aid workers from Acted and Impact with their motorcycles, in the Kouré reserve, 60 km to the south. -est of the capital, Niamey. Joined, the six volunteers of these NGOs, their driver and their guide, had executed.
In which circumstances Soumana Boura was he killed?
Soumana Boura was located and then formally identified on Monday in an Islamic State sanctuary area, north of the city of Tillabéri, in northwestern Niger. He was alone, in an almost desert area, and it was the perfect opportunity to target him, said the staff. He was “neutralized” – that is to say, shot down – by a laser-guided bomb fired by a drone and which exploded in the immediate vicinity of the motorcycle he was driving. A group of French soldiers was then hoisted to confirm the death of Soumara Boura and search the area, further specifies the staff.
Nothing to do with an extrajudicial execution or a punitive strike, insists the staff: Soumana Boura was considered to be the leader of a group of the Islamic State in the Great Sahara made up of several dozen fighters, in other words a leader of war and it is as such that it was intended.
How was his trail found?
The investigation into the attack carried out by Niger and France, with three French investigating judges, allowed between August 2020 and February 2021 the arrest of eleven people suspected of having participated in the assassination, accomplices of the Islamic State in the Great Sahara: lookouts ambushed on the road that day and signaling to the group of attackers any vehicle occupied by Westerners, but also members of logistics cells in Niamey, the capital.
It was this investigation that made it possible to identify the three attackers who had chased the 4 × 4 of the humanitarian workers. Soumana Boura was one of them. Acting under the direct order of the Emir of the Islamic State in the Great Sahara, Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, he had not only executed the humanitarians and their Nigerien accompanists, but also filmed the scene, ensuring the media coverage of the assassination on social networks and jihadist group channels.
Does this “neutralization” deal a serious blow to EIGS?
The impact of this “neutralization” on EIGS is uncertain. These jihadist groups have so far shown a remarkable ability to adapt, fairly easily replacing a fallen leader with another and the operations targeted against EIGS executives in Niger and neighboring Mali have not succeeded. end of their activity in the Sahelo-Saharan strip. Soumara Boura was at the head of a group of a few dozen fighters. It operated in the “three borders” area, between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and it appeared to be based in Niger. The French staff underlines the fact that the operation was mounted with the Nigerien armed forces, particularly at the forefront both in terms of the investigation and the formal identification of the jihadists.
Soumana Boura is the last of the executives of the Islamic State in the Great Sahara to have been arrested or killed by French and Nigerien forces. In June, it was Dadi Ould Chouaïb, alias Abou Dardar, considered a cadi (Islamic judge) in the region, and Almahmoud ag Baye alias Ikaray, leader of a group of combatants; in July, Issa al-Sahraoui, logistics and financial coordinator of the EIGS, and Abou Abderrahmane al-Sahraoui, second of the EIGS. And finally, in August, Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, the emir and warlord of the EIGS. The latter was the real ordering party for the assassination of humanitarian workers and, at the time of his death, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, hailed a “good news”.