Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups

Updated March 27, 2018
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups
AQIM, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization
Figure 1. AQIM Insignia
(FTO), was formed when the Algerian-led Salafist Group
for Preaching and Combat formally joined with Al Qaeda
and renamed itself in 2006-2007. AQIM’s leader reportedly
remains in Algeria, but the group’s center of gravity has
moved southward into West Africa’s impoverished Sahel
region, and east toward Libya. AQIM has long pursued
criminal activities such as kidnapping for ransom and
smuggling. In recent years, it also has claimed a siege at a

gas plant in Algeria (2013) and mass shootings at hotels,
Source: U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)
restaurants, and resorts in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Côte
d’Ivoire (2015-2017). In March 2018, a Mali-based, AQIM-
Leadership and Related Groups
aligned coalition claimed a relatively sophisticated attack in
The purported leader/“emir” of AQIM is Abdelmalik
Burkina Faso’s capital that targeted the military
Droukdel (aka Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud), an Algerian
headquarters and the French Embassy.
national reportedly based in northeastern Algeria. AQIM’s
operations in the Sahel are reportedly led by Algerian
AQIM and its local allies exploited the popular uprisings in
national Djamel Okacha (aka Yahya Abou el Hammam).
Tunisia and Libya in 2011 and the subsequent civil war in
An apparently fractious and decentralized organization,
Mali to expand their safe-havens and areas of influence.
AQIM has cultivated close ties with local communities in
The collapse of the Qadhafi regime in Libya provided a
the Sahel and has spawned various offshoots and affiliates:
new source of arms and recruits. In Mali in 2012, AQIM
and allied groups leveraged a separatist rebellion and
 Al Murabitoun (“The Sentinels”), formed in 2013
political crisis to assert control over a large swath of
as the merger of two AQIM splinter factions, Al
territory. They ultimately marginalized the separatists,
Mulathamun (“The Masked Ones”) and the
appointed local administrators, and imposed a violent
Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (aka
interpretation of Islamic law. AQIM also reportedly
MUJAO, its French acronym). The group has
provided support to elements of Nigeria’s Boko Haram.
claimed attacks in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and
Burkina Faso, and has also reportedly been active
The French military deployed to northern Mali in 2013, but
in Libya. Founder Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar
despite tactical successes against AQIM and its local allies,
reportedly survived a U.S. air strike in Libya in
it did not fully defeat these groups. French troops have
2015, and was reportedly again targeted there by a
since remained in the Sahel under a regional mission known
French strike in 2016; his death has been reported
as Operation Barkhane. AQIM and its allies have returned
but not confirmed. Al Murabitoun has been
to asymmetric attacks, targeting French forces, local state
designated as an FTO.
entities, UN peacekeepers, and civilians perceived as
collaborators. Islamist armed groups have meanwhile
 Ansar al Dine (“Supporters of Religion”), led by
proliferated in central and southern Mali, and are active in
Iyad Ag Ghaly, an ethnic Tuareg from northern
adjacent parts of Burkina Faso and Niger.
Mali, and the closely tied Macina Liberation
Front (MLF; Macina refers to a pre-colonial
AQIM and related groups in the Sahel have pledged greater
Islamic state), led by Amadou Koufa, an ethnic
unity since 2015, possibly in a bid to outpace France’s
Fulani from central Mali. Ansar al Dine has been
ongoing military operations, undermine Mali’s 2015 peace
designated as an FTO.
agreement with northern rebels, and/or respond to
competition from a splinter faction that has aligned itself
 Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM,
with the Islamic State. AQIM and erstwhile splinter group
“Union for Supporting Islam and Muslims”), a
Al Murabitoun re-merged in 2015, and in 2017, AQIM’s
2017 merger among AQIM’s Sahel branch, Al
Sahel-based “emirate” and Al Murabitoun announced a
Murabitoun, Ansar al Dine, and the MLF, led by
merger with two Malian-led groups (see below).
Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ties among these groups had
already been evident, making the practical
AQIM has not claimed attacks outside North-West Africa,
significance of the union uncertain.
and the State Department has characterized it as “largely a
regionally-focused group.” The group’s shifting tactics and
 Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade in Tunisia, which the
opportunism have provoked debate over the appropriate
State Department has described as AQIM-
U.S. approach to Islamist extremist groups whose activities
“aligned.” Current allegiances are uncertain;
are primarily locally oriented, but which pose a threat to
reports suggest some elements are loyal to the
U.S. interests and personnel in the areas where they operate.
Islamic State.
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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups
 Ansarul Islam (“Supporters of Islam”), an
IS-GS claimed responsibility for the attack that killed four
emergent Islamist insurgency in northern Burkina
U.S. soldiers in western Niger on October 4, 2017. It is
Faso. The State Department has listed the group as
reported to be holding a U.S. citizen, Jeffery Woodke, who
a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
was kidnapped in western Niger in October 2016, but has

made no public claim regarding him.
Islamic State-Greater Sahara (IS-GS), formed in
mid-2015 when MUJAO faction leader Abu Walid
International Responses to AQIM
al Sahrawi pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
France deployed its military to Mali in 2013, at the request
IS-GS has been active along the borders of Mali,
of the government, to counter an advance by Ansar al Dine.
Niger, and Burkina Faso.
Partnering with local and Chadian forces, French troops
Objectives
ousted Islamist leaders from major towns in northern Mali,
killed or captured several key AQIM figures, and struck
AQIM propaganda calls for replacing governments in North
AQIM logistical hubs. Since 2014, France’s Mali
and West Africa with Islamist regimes, and for countering
deployment has been subsumed under Operation Barkhane,
Western influence, notably that of former colonial power
an enduring French counterterrorism mission in the Sahel.
France. The JNIM coalition appears to seek an Islamist
The U.N. Security Council established a U.N. peacekeeping
regime in Mali (at the national or sub-national level), and
operation (MINUSMA) in 2013 to help stabilize Mali, but it
the withdrawal of Malian state actors and foreign troops. Its
is not mandated to conduct counterterrorism operations.
component groups and IS-GS have also pursued communal
agendas on behalf of their respective bases in the Sahel.
The U.S. military provides logistical and intelligence
support to Operation Barkhane. The United States also
provides counterterrorism assistance to countries in North
“Today, Al-Qaeda’s individual franchises focus on
and West Africa, including under the Trans-Sahara
exploiting local conflicts... [T]he affiliates have become
Counter-Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP), a long-running
increasingly responsive to local contexts.” – CNA,
State Department-led interagency initiative. Defense
Independent Assessment of U.S. Government Efforts
Department-administered security cooperation activities
against Al-Qaeda, October 2017
have expanded in the Sahel over the past decade, as

Congress has provided increased authorities and funding to
The degree of antagonism between Al Qaeda and Islamic
build the capacity of foreign partner forces. The United
State affiliates in North-West Africa is uncertain. While the
States has also imposed targeted sanctions on AQIM and
two franchises may compete for recruits and prominence,
several related groups, and individual figures within them.
some analysts see evidence of cooperation.
In 2017, five countries known as the G5 Sahel—Mali,
Size and Financing
Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad—proposed a
joint force to counter terrorism and other cross-border
The State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism state
threats in the region, an initiative backed by France and the
that as of 2016, AQIM had “several hundred fighters
African Union. The Trump Administration pledged $60
operating in Algeria and the Sahel, including remote
million in funding for the force’s constituent militaries in
regions of northern Mali and southwest Libya.” The reports
October 2017; other pledges have been made by the
do not include a size estimate for other groups listed above.
European Union, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab
As of 2012, AQIM’s reported ability to draw millions of
Emirates. Prospects for the success of the joint force remain
dollars in ransom payments led U.S. officials to describe it
uncertain, given enduring mutual distrust and capacity
publicly as the best financed Al Qaeda affiliate, although
shortfalls among G5 member states.
the current financial ranking of Al Qaeda affiliates is
Relationship with Al Qaeda/Islamic State
unclear. Cigarette smuggling and cocaine trafficking have
AQIM’s “
reportedly provided additional revenues to AQIM.
union” with Al Qaeda was announced by then-
According to the Country Reports on Terrorism, AQIM
deputy Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in 2006. In
also “successfully fundraises globally” and has received
2014, AQIM reiterated its allegiance to Zawahiri, now Al
some funds from “supporters residing in Western Europe.”
Qaeda’s global leader, in the context of the split between Al
Qaeda and the Islamic State. Al Murabitoun’s Mokhtar bel
Attacks against U.S. Persons
Mokhtar also stated his allegiance to Zawahiri after
AQIM claimed responsibility for the 2009 murder in
breaking away from AQIM, as did JNIM leader Ag Ghaly
upon the coalition’s formation in
Mauritania of an American citizen. Three U.S. citizens
2017. Abu Walid el
were killed during Al Murabitoun’s siege at a gas plant in
Sahrawi’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State was
southeast Algeria in January 2013 (seven other Americans
recognized by “core” Islamic State media in October 2016.
escaped alive); one American was killed in a November
Islamic State leadership has not referred to a full “province”
2015 AQIM/Al Murabitoun attack on a hotel in Bamako,
in the Sahel, however, as it has with affiliates elsewhere.
Mali; and one was killed in a January 2016 AQIM/Al
Murabitoun attack on a hotel and restaurant in
Alexis Arieff, Specialist in African Affairs
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The State Department has
IF10172
also referred to ties between AQIM and the perpetrators of
the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi.

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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups

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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10172 · VERSION 8 · UPDATED