© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

France Kills Top West Africa ISIS Leader In Drone Strike

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The top ISIS leader in West Africa is dead. He had claimed responsibility for an attack that killed four U.S. service members. The French government says it killed him in a drone strike last month. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi was once a separatist in the Western Sahara, but he moved south to Mali and Niger, where he became aligned with al-Qaida. In 2015, Sahrawi pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. And in 2017, he gained worldwide notoriety when he claimed responsibility for an ambush in Niger that left four American soldiers dead. The U.S. designated him a global terrorist and put a $5 million bounty on his head. And as violence escalated in the Sahel, France also declared him enemy No. 1. French President Emmanuel Macron said his killing was, quote, "a major success in France's fight against terrorists."

ALEX THURSTON: But I think also these strikes, they make for good news and so forth, but they don't really produce a lasting drop in violence.

PERALTA: That is Alex Thurston, who studies Islamic extremism in Africa at the University of Cincinnati. He says France has been aggressively killing these militant leaders in the Sahel over the past year or so, but the violence keeps escalating. While Sahrawi was one of the top three leaders in the Sahel, Thurston says he was also more of a super bandit than a brilliant political strategist.

PERALTA: Definitely hard-line ideologically, but somebody who spent a lot of his time, you know, probably thinking about how to extort money from people and how to survive. So, yeah, somebody like that can be replaced.

PERALTA: So a big terrorist leader is gone, he says, but the violence, which has left thousands dead in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, is very likely to continue.

Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Cape Town. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.