In Mali, an Attack to Promote al Qaeda Interests

Sources in Mali have blamed the attack on Ansar Dine, an Islamist militant group headed by a Tuareg leader named Iyad Ag Ghali. The group served as the Malian branch of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. With the help of al Qaeda, Ansar Dine briefly gained control of nearly all of northern Mali during its insurgency in 2012-2013. France subsequently retook northern Mali in a military intervention, and European and African troops have remained there ever since....