With up to 6,000 fighters, JNIM is now the most well-armed militant force in the Sahel — and among the most powerful in the world, officials and experts say.
With up to 6,000 fighters, JNIM is now the most well-armed militant force in the Sahel — and among the most powerful in the world, officials and experts say.
Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has battled an insurgency by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, they have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units.
Attacks by Islamic militants are surging in western Africa, where the U.S. is struggling to track terrorist movements in the wake of a pullout of forces from the region, the top American general for Africa missions said Friday.