Head of Islamic State in Sahara killed by French troops – Macron

The jihadist leader of the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara has been killed by the French military, President Emmanuel Macron says.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Macron described the death of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi as a “major success in the fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel.”

French forces, backed by US intelligence, have been hunting jihadist cells in the region for years.

Islamist insurgent groups have spread across the region, including Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso – and the Islamic State group is blamed for many of the jihadist attacks across the region.

The jihadist leader al-Sahrawi was behind the killing of French aid workers in 2020.

He was also wanted by the United States over a deadly 2017 attack that killed US and Niger troops – and had offered a $5m reward for information about him.

Previously, he was the spokesman for a Malian Islamist group Mujao and the self-proclaimed leader of al-Mourabitoun militant group.

BBC/Shakirat Sadiq