Mali kills IS Commander Accused for US killings, Reports State TV

According to Mali’s state television, a senior Islamic State commander with a $5 million (£4 million) US bounty on his head was killed by a group comprised of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger troops.

Abu Huzeifa was associated to many high-profile raids in the Sahel region.

This included a 2017 attack that killed four American soldiers and several Nigerian forces.

Jihadist fighters have relentlessly attacked Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

All three nations are under military rule and have formed tight ties with Russia while severing ties with Western friends, including the United States.

They have accepted Russian military assistance while forcing troops from other countries to depart.

The broadcast on Mali’s state TV named Abu Huzeifa, also known as Higgo, as a Moroccan national and leader in IS’s self-proclaimed Sahel Province.

It said he was slain on Sunday in an operation in the northern town of Indelimane in the Menaka area, praising it as “a victory against a bane of evil”.

The US authorities said Hufeiza was wanted in connection with an attack on a US Special Forces team in Niger in 2017, which killed four Americans and four Nigerien soldiers.

IS eventually claimed credit for the incident.