Secret footage reveals al-Qaeda s plans for expansion
Videos filmed secretely by a covert agent in the Sahel region have exposed the terrorist organisation s plans. The footage was presented by the head of the General Directorate of External Security to the defence minister.
Europe 1, a French commercial radio, has come into possession of a footage of extraordinary significance. It was presented to Defense Minister Florence Parly by Bernard Emie, the head of the Directorate General for External Security (DGSE) in the annual report of the external intelligence service.
The clandestine recording made last February by a covert agent in the Sahel, Mali, features several al-Qaeda leaders, including Emir Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of the organisation s North African group, AQIM (Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb).
#Mali la DGSE dévoile un montage d une vidéo « tournée par une source humaine lors d une réunion entre Iyad Ag Ghali, Mohamad Kouffa & feu Abou Moussaab Abdel Wadoud #Droukdel dans le centre du Mali en février 2020 » pic.twitter.com/C7UTeQWitt
— Wassim Nasr (@SimNasr) February 2, 2021
The person of Abdelmalek Droukdel has particular sigificance for France, because it s his radical Algerian Islamic group that committed the deadly terrorist attacks at the Saint-Michel and Port Royal stations of Paris s express RER metropolitan train system in 1995, killing eight people and injuring 200 more. The emir was eventually killed by French special forces in the Battle of Talahandak on 3 June 2020. Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group in charge of tracking down terrorist organisations, gave details of his death on Twitter:
1)Breaking: Reports by French Minster of Defense that #AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel (aka Abu Musab #Wadud) killed in northern #Mali. Wadud was leader since 2004, even before group joined AQ. He last surfaced in a Mar. 2020 speech urging talks with gov thttps://t.co/TRlAxKzpYZ pic.twitter.com/KYmoFGI2DM
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) June 5, 2020
The footage taken inside a tent reveals that the terrorists engaged in a discussion had no idea that their meeting was being filmed. The recording is extremely valuable for French intelligence services as it makes clear that al-Qaeda is working on a new strategy. It suggets that the jihadi group in the Sahel, weakened by French military operations, is seeking ways to set up new terrorist cells in Western and Central Africa.
Tuareg leader Iyad Ag Ghaly also attended the meeting. According to Bernard Emie, Tuareg s chief is known for his stern committment to jihadi ideology, as someone who practices terrorism daily and has no qualms about taking up arms. Iyad Ag Ghaly is determined to carry out attacks in Europe, according to information obtained by French intelligence.