March 20, 2017
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups
Overview
Figure 1. AQIM Insignia
AQIM, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,
was formed when the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching
and Combat “united” with Al Qaeda in 2006-2007. AQIM
then carried out several large attacks against Algerian state
targets, but as security forces in Algeria cracked down, it
increasingly moved into the impoverished Sahel region of
West Africa. There, AQIM attacked military and police
posts; orchestrated lucrative kidnap-for-ransom operations,
largely targeting Westerners; and engaged in smuggling
activities. AQIM’s allure among West Africans initially
appeared limited, and some analysts viewed it as a
primarily criminal enterprise. However, the group has
demonstrated resilience and broader appeal, leveraging

instability and security vacuums in Mali, Libya, and Tunisia
Source: AQIM social media
to expand its reach and lethality. Despite battlefield losses
in Mali, AQIM and its offshoots recently carried out several
In 2012, AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar al Dine asserted
mass-casualty attacks targeting Westerners, notably a multi-
control over a vast if sparsely populated area in northern
day siege at a gas plant in Algeria (2013) and mass
Mali, taking advantage of an ethnic separatist insurgency
shootings at hotels and restaurants in Mali, Burkina Faso,
and government collapse. They formed locally-led
and Côte d’Ivoire (2015-2016).
administrative entities and imposed a harsh interpretation of
Islamic law, including amputations for thieves and the
AQIM’s shifting tactics and opportunism have long sparked
destruction of cultural sites. France’s military intervened in
debate over the appropriate approach to armed Islamist
early 2013, ousting Islamist leaders from major towns,
extremist groups whose activities appear primarily locally-
killing and capturing several key leaders, and apparently
driven, but which pose a threat to U.S. interests in the
significantly weakening the group. AQIM and linked
region where they operate. As of 2012, AQIM’s reported
groups have since returned to asymmetric attacks in Mali,
ability to draw millions of dollars in European ransom
primarily targeting Malian state actors, UN peacekeepers,
payments led U.S. officials to describe it as the best
and Malians perceived as collaborators, while also
financed Al Qaeda affiliate, but at the time, the group had
expanding their areas of operation into central and southern
been responsible for a single American citizen death. The
parts of the country (including the capital, Bamako).
inability of West African governments to fully curtail or
contain AQIM poses particular challenges to U.S. officials
AQIM and related groups have pledged greater unity since
seeking local partners—although France’s military
2015, possibly in a bid to outpace French counterterrorism
deployment to the Sahel since 2013 has provided new
operations, undermine a 2015 Mali peace agreement
opportunities for U.S. counterterrorism cooperation.
between the government and northern separatists, and/or
respond to competition from local groups aligning
AQIM has cultivated close relationships with local
themselves with the Islamic State organization. AQIM and
communities in the Sahel, and has long exhibited internal
its previously dissident offshoot Al Murabitoun jointly
divisions. It has thus spawned a number of splinter factions
claimed the 2015-2016 West Africa hotel and restaurant
and affiliates—including a recent proliferation of West
attacks, and the two groups announced their re-merger in
African-led groups. Al Murabitoun (“The Sentinels,” a
late 2015. In early 2017, AQIM’s Sahel-based “emirate”
name shared by the 11-12th century Almoravid movement)
and Al Murabitoun announced a merger with Ansar al Dine
was formed in 2013 as the merger of two AQIM breakaway
and another Malian-led Islamist insurgent group, the
factions, Al Mulathamun (“The Masked Ones”) and the
Macina Liberation Front (MLF). Ties among these groups
Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (known as
had already been evident to observers; the practical
MUJAO, its French acronym). West African-led Islamist
significance of the announcement is uncertain.
extremist groups linked to AQIM and/or Al Murabitoun
include a Malian insurgent group known as Ansar al Dine
Objectives
(“Supporters of Religion”), an emergent Burkina Faso-
AQIM and Al Murabitoun’s public releases suggest a desire
based group known as Ansar al Islam, and a MUJAO
to replace the governments of Algeria and neighboring
offshoot that has sought affiliation with the Islamic State.
states with Islamist regimes, and to counter Western
Some AQIM figures have also reportedly provided support
influence, notably that of former colonial power France.
to elements of Nigeria’s Boko Haram, whose leadership
Ansar al Dine and the MLF appear to seek an Islamist
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015.
regime in Mali (either as a whole or in sub-regions where
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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups
their respective ethnic bases are concentrated), the
November 2015 AQIM/Al Murabitoun hotel attack in
withdrawal of Malian state actors from the north and center
Bamako, Mali, and one was killed in the January 2016
of the country, and the exit of foreign troops.
AQIM/Al Murabitoun hotel and restaurant attack in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In October 2016, a U.S.
Leadership
citizen who had been working for decades in rural Niger for
The reported leader/emir of AQIM “central,” Abdelmalik
a Christian aid organization was kidnapped, reportedly by
Droukdel (aka Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud), is an Algerian
MUJAO. If so, it would be the first kidnapping of an
national reportedly based in northeastern Algeria. AQIM’s
American citizen by an AQIM-linked group.
operations in the Sahel are reportedly led by Algerian
national Yahya Abu el Hammam. The most publicly known
The State Department has referenced ties between AQIM
leader in Al Murabitoun is Mokhtar bel Mokhtar, also an
militants and the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi,
Algerian national and formerly a key AQIM figure. Press
Libya, in 2012, and the Department’s 2015 Country Reports
reports have placed Bel Mokhtar in Libya, where he
on Terrorism stated that AQIM had provided funds to
reportedly survived a U.S. air strike in June 2015. A French
Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi. According to the State
air strike reportedly again targeted Bel Mokhtar in late
Department, AQIM has urged its supporters to attack U.S.
2016, but his death has not been publicly confirmed.
embassies and kill U.S. ambassadors.
Ansar al Dine is led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, an ethnic Tuareg
Size and Financing
from Mali’s northern Kidal region. Amadou Koufa, an
According to the State Department, as of 2015 AQIM had
ethnic Fulani from central Mali, heads the MLF. In an early
“several hundred fighters operating in Algeria and the
2017 video announcing a formal merger among Ansar al
Sahel.” The U.S government has not released a detailed
Dine and the MLF, AQIM’s Sahel branch, and Al
unclassified assessment of related groups’ respective size.
Murabitoun, these groups recognized Ag Ghaly as leader of
a newly proclaimed Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen
Criminal activities, including kidnap-for-ransom and
(“Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims”).
smuggling, reportedly constitute a key source of funding for
AQIM. Observers debate the extent to which the group
Areas of Operation
engages directly in drug smuggling. According to the State
AQIM and its offshoots and affiliates are active in multiple
Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism, AQIM also
countries across North and West Africa. AQIM attacks
“successfully fundraises globally, including limited
have been primarily concentrated in Algeria, Mali,
financial and logistical assistance from supporters residing
Mauritania, and Niger. The group has also claimed
in Western Europe.” Mokhtar bel Mokhtar has long been
responsibility for at least one attack each in Tunisia (where
implicated in kidnapping-for-ransom, smuggling, and other
there is a local affiliate group) and Côte d’Ivoire. Elements
criminal fundraising activities. AQIM has reportedly
of AQIM are also reportedly active in Libya. Al
provided funds to affiliated groups such as Ansar al Dine,
Murabitoun and its component MUJAO have claimed
which also may receive funds from “foreign donors,”
responsibility for attacks in Algeria (including the Western
according to the State Department. Sources of funding for
Sahara refugee camps in Tindouf), Niger, and Mali. Al
Malian- and Burkinabe-led groups are unclear.
Murabitoun also reportedly has a presence in Libya.
MUJAO and its dissident offshoot, the self-described
Relationship with Al Qaeda and/or the
Islamic State-Greater Sahara (IS-GS), have threatened to
Islamic State organization
attack Morocco but have not done so successfully.
AQIM’s “union” with Al Qaeda was announced by Al
Qaeda’s then-deputy leader Ayman al Zawahiri in 2006.
Ansar al Dine and the MLF appear primarily to be active in,
The Obama Administration referred to AQIM as a formal
and focused on, Mali. IS-GS has claimed responsibility for
Al Qaeda “affiliate.” In 2014, the group reiterated its
attacks in Burkina Faso and may also be active in Mali.
allegiance to Zawahiri, now Al Qaeda’s leader, in the
Ansar al Islam appears primarily active in Burkina Faso.
context of the split between Zawahiri and the Islamic State.
The same year, Al Murabitoun’s Mokhtar bel Mokhtar
In February 2017, authorities in the Senegalese capital,
publicly swore allegiance to Zawahiri. In announcing the
Dakar, arrested two suspected militants from Mali and
creation of Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen in early
Mauritania who were reportedly implicated in the AQIM/Al
2017, Ag Ghaly of Ansar al Dine—a group identified by
Murabitoun hotel attack in Côte d’Ivoire. This may suggest
UN sanctions investigators as a local front for AQIM—
that group members transit through urban logistical hubs in
pledged allegiance to AQIM’s Droukdel and Zawahiri.
the region situated outside their perceived areas of activity.
In 2015, then-MUJAO figure Abu Walid al Sahrawi split
Attacks against U.S. Personnel and
from Al Murabitoun and pledged allegiance to the Islamic
Facilities
State. The “core” Islamic State organization appeared to
AQIM claimed responsibility for the 2009 murder in
recognize the pledge in a release in October 2016, and this
Mauritania of an American citizen who was reportedly
faction has since referred to itself as IS-Greater Sahara.
conducting missionary work. Three U.S. citizens were
killed and seven more escaped during Al Murabitoun’s
Alexis Arieff, aarieff@crs.loc.gov, 7-2459
siege at a gas plant in southeastern Algeria in January 2013
(in which 39 civilians were killed overall and some 800
IF10172
taken hostage). One U.S. citizen was killed in the
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