{"id":4346,"date":"2026-02-03T00:41:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T00:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/dozens-of-militants-killed-in-airstrikes-in-northern-mali"},"modified":"2026-02-04T03:28:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:28:03","slug":"dozens-of-militants-killed-in-airstrikes-in-northern-mali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/dozens-of-militants-killed-in-airstrikes-in-northern-mali","title":{"rendered":"Dozens of Militants Killed in Airstrikes in Northern Mali"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>The Malian army announced that air forces of the Alliance of Sahel States carried out a series of precision air operations in late January, resulting in the killing of dozens of militants affiliated with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara across several areas of the Me\u0301naka region in northeastern Mali.<\/p>\n<p>According to a statement from the General Staff, the first strike was conducted on 31 January in the Akabar area, south of Me\u0301naka near the border with Niger. It targeted a group of militants travelling on motorcycles, killing around twenty of them and destroying vehicles used to transport logistical equipment. The statement added that other groups detected in the same area were also targeted and neutralised, with their equipment destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>The Alliance\u2019s air forces also said they pursued militants who had survived earlier strikes carried out by Malian armed forces on 29 January north of Me\u0301naka. Those fighters, suffering from shortages of fuel and ammunition, had gathered in an area under aerial surveillance before being struck.<\/p>\n<p><b>Senior commander killed<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Malian army said field verification confirmed the death of a senior militant leader, Abu al-Ghabbas Ichmali, who was wanted by the authorities, during an airstrike carried out on 29 January in the Inatabakt area north of Me\u0301naka. Authorities said Ichmali was involved in serious abuses against civilians in the region.<\/p>\n<p>The General Staff concluded by stressing that aerial reconnaissance and surveillance operations will continue across the Alliance of Sahel States to eliminate armed groups threatening the region\u2019s security and stability.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press. The Malian army announced that air forces of the Alliance of Sahel States carried out a series of precision air operations in late January, resulting in the killing of dozens of militants affiliated with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara across several areas of the Me\u0301naka region in northeastern Mali. According to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-4346","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dozens of Militants Killed in Airstrikes in Northern Mali - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. 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