Al-Qaeda leader Nabil Makhloufi killed in road accident

Nabil Makhloufi, desert area's Vice Leader from the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Militant Organisation has died following a road accident on Sunday, also killing two other companions. Sidi Mohamed Ag Ahmed, a member of the Azawad Movement in the river area of northern Mali said that the death of the leader from Drudkel’s organisation resulted from a road accident when their 4-wheel drive fell off a mountainous slope onto the road between Qusi and Gao. According to some Mauritanian and Malian media sources, the vehicle was also carrying four other terrorists, among them Abdelrazik Al-Ansari. The accident occured when one of the tyres exploded whilst travelling at a very high speed. The car fell in a deep slope resulting in the death of the three passengers. Nabil Makhloufi, known as Nabil Abu Alqama was one of the close associates of the national emir, Abdelmalik Drudkel and one of his trustees. Drudkel had sent Makhloufi to settle disagreements between the organisation leaders in November 2011. Other sources add that he was appointed as emir instead of Yahya Jawadi. He is considered an actual leader of AQIM in the coast area. He lately appeared in a video posted on YouTube where he confirmed the execution of Algerian diplomat, Al-Taher Touati by the Tawhid and Jihad on September 1 after the end of the respite given to Algerian authorities. In related context, recent Algerian security bulletins counted no less than 146 dangerous “terrorists” of Algerian descent within the AQIM Emirate of the Sahara and the Tawhid and Jihad Movement in west Africa. In the bulletin, security authorities declared a “most wanted” list which includes the names of agents suspected to belong to groups participating in terrorist attacks. The new list cited 146 people while current available data refers to 80, out of the 146, coming from southern states — all of whom are on the run escaping from death or life sentences. Media sources asserted that most of the names on the wanted list had participated in militant acts since the beginning of the security crisis in Algeria, including Mokhtar Balmokhtar (Al-Awar), Ghadir Mohamed (Abdelhamid Abu Zaid), Yahya Jawadi (Abu Ammar), and Tomi Al-Nasser (Abu Firas Al-Sufi). The bulletin also anticipated the possibility of new terrorist attacks and kidnappings in the Sahara and borders area in an escalation for militant movements’ activities. A change for their camps from the north is now beleaguered by the army and security, to the vast desert, especially in southern states. Around 1000 militants belonging to different salafist jihadist groups also take North Mali as their base. The militants carry different nationalities from Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Morocco, Tunisia, Niger, and Nigeria. Different militant groups based in North Mali on the borders with Algeria invest in the social conditions which the youth in the region suffer. Reports assert that children under 18 are recruited in militia lines and given tasks of spying and initiative in battle. In that way, the organisations guarantee the least losses among their most experienced members. The bulletin comes days after the execution of Algerian diplomat Al-Taher Touati by the AQIM ally the Tawhid and Jihad Movement as a reaction from Algeria. Moreover, Algerian authorities announced sending 10,000 soldiers in addition to declaring the border area with Azawad region a security-restricted area.