The head of the Islamic State group in the Sahara was killed by French troops, said President Emmanuel Macron.
The group is blamed for most of the attacks in the region, including the targeted killing of French aid workers in the year 2020.
Macron called the death of Sahrawi « another great success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel ».
The Sahel is a huge, three million square kilometer area that extends south of the Sahara over Africa from Senegal in the west to Somalia in the east.
French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted that Sahraui died after an attack by French Operation Barkhane, which is fighting Islamist militants in the Sahel, mainly in Mali, Niger, and Chad Burkina Faso.
She added that it was « a decisive blow to this terrorist group » and that the « fight continues ».
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