Editor TLN
July 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Niger authorities have announced the arrest of two alleged high-ranking officials of the jihadist group Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (OIGS) in the framework of an operation in the “zone of the three borders” together with the French Army, within the framework of actions to improve security in light of the rise in terrorist attacks.
According to the information collected by the French radio station Radio France Internationale, the operation was carried out in Gorouol, near the border with Burkina Faso and Mali, and also resulted in the neutralization of several members of the jihadist group, without for the moment there are more details.
The detained suspects, identified as Abu Maryam, alias ‘Zaid’ –identified as an ISGS ‘judge’–, and Sita Ousseini, alias ‘Loukoumane’, have been handed over to the Burkina Faso military junta, where they were wanted for Your activities.
Nigerian security sources have indicated that these arrests have taken place thanks to the good cooperation at the military level between Niger and France, amid the pressure that Paris is being subjected to from other countries in the region critical of its role. on the continent, including Mali and Burkina Faso.
Western Niger, mainly the Tillabéri region, has been the scene in recent years of an increasing number of actions by jihadist groups, which have extended their radius of action from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso. Both the Al Qaeda affiliate, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), and the Islamic State affiliate, ISGS, operate in the central Sahel.
