French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly confirmed on Friday that France and its military partners had killed Abdelmalek Droukdal, the North African head of the terror network, al-Qaida.
Parly said Droukdal and some of his "close collaborators" were killed during an operation in the West African country of Mali.
Droukdal headed all al-Qaida affiliates in North Africa and also commanded the Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an active terrorist group in the Sahel Strip of West Africa.
Droukdal was part of a militant takeover of north Mali before his fighters were driven away by French military forces in 2013.
France's role in North Africa
Droukdal's death comes six months after France combined its military forces G5 Sahel countries -- Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- under one command structure to fight IS-linked militants.
