Abu Hassan al-Ansari explained

Abu Hassan al-Ansari
Death Date:February 14, 2018
Birth Place:Tilemsi, Gao Region, Mali
Death Place:Inaghalawass, Mali
Allegiance: al-Mourabitoun (?–2015)
Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (2017–2018)
Rank:Emir
Battles:Islamist insurgency in the Sahel

Mali War

Mohamed Ould Nouini, nom de guerre Abu Hassan al-Ansari (also written Abou Hassan al-Ansari) was a Malian jihadist known for perpetrating the 2016 Ouagadougou attacks and the Grand-Bassam attack, along with his high position in Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.

Biography

al-Ansari was born a Tilemsi Arab from the Tilemsi region of Gao.[1] He is the cousin of Ahmed al-Tilemsi, the founder of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) who was killed in 2014.

al-Ansari is suspected of planning and perpetrating the 2016 Ouagadougou attacks that killed 30 people, and the Grand-Bassam shootings later that year in Ivory Coast. In 2016, he was considered the right-hand man of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).[2] al-Ansari also led Al-Mourabitoun in Mali in 2015.

He appeared in the 2017 video that announced the creation of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin as a merger of five different jihadist groups led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. al-Ansari was killed in the 2018 Inaghalawass skirmish. JNIM retaliated by launching the 2018 Ouagadougou attacks.[3] [4]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sahel : à la recherche du jihadiste Mohamed Ould Nouini – Jeune Afrique . 2023-11-01 . JeuneAfrique.com . fr-FR.
  2. News: 2017-03-10 . De la naissance d’un nouveau " djihadistan " au Sahel . fr . Le Monde.fr . 2023-11-01.
  3. Web site: 2018-03-03 . Après la double attaque de Ouagadougou, l'enquête progresse . 2023-11-01 . Le Figaro . fr.
  4. Web site: 2018-03-04 . Ouagadougou: qui est Hassan al-Ansari, tué dans un raid français en février? . 2023-11-01 . RFI . fr.