Category: Mali

UPDATE 1/19 7:41 AM: Click here for an Urdu translation of the below message.
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UPDATE 1/16 8:59 AM: Anṣār al-Jihād English Blog translated the below message from Arabic into English and is unedited from the original:

All praise be to Allah, the Lord and Protector of the Righteous. Indeed the final end will be for the pious. And there is no act of aggression except against the oppressors.  May peace and blessings be upon him who was raised with the sword as a mercy for the worlds, and upon all pure family and companions. To proceed: In context of the tyrannical policies of the French against the Muslims, their participation in the Christian Crusade in Afghanistan, and their meddling with the affairs andplundering the wealth of the Sahel as well as the Islamic Maghreb, a group of Mujahideen from the Mulathimeen (Masked) Battalion under the leadership of the our brother, commander Khalid Abul-Abbas, may Allah protect him, carried out a courageous operation on Friday, January 7 (2011), in the heart of the capital of Niger,Niamey, in which they launched an offensive against the heavily guarded diplomatic quarters and successfully kidnapped two Frenchmen, by Allah’s Grace. But due to the foolish way the French government in dealt with the Mujahideen and their obvious lack of care for their fellow Frenchmen led to the death of the captivesas well as the death and injury of 20 other French and Niger troops. Due to the fact that the French Government spun a fabricated tale about the actual events to sway pubic opinion, the time came has come for the Mujahideen, as the heros who carried out the operation have safely returned to their bases, to present this detailed report and the truth about the chain of events which took place after the successful kidnapping. So we say, seeking help from Allah: 1) During the retreat after the successful kidnapping, the Mujahideen entered a firefight with a Nigerien Army Patrol. They were successful by Allah’s Grace in killing and injuring 7 Nigeriens, from them their commander, and then retreating along with the kidnapped Frenchmen safely without suffering any losses or injuries worth mentioning. They entered the borders of Mali and continued their advance while French spy planes pursued them. 2) The Mujahideen sent an official telegram to the French and Nigeriens severely warning them from any military attempt to free the the French captives, and we confirmed the receipt of the telegraph at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning, through official means which they themselves know of. 3) The Mujahideen continued their retreat with the kidnapped and reached the region of Menaka inside Mali territory. 4) The French President foolishly decided on military intervention in attempt to free the two captives, despite the warnings of the Mujahideen, ordering the French paratroopers and their Nigerien lackeys to attack. Thus a fierce and courageous battle ensued between the small group of heroic Mujahideen and French troops who were flown in along with Nigerien troops in Hasi “Tikbirt” in Southwestern “Menaka”. 5) The battle commenced with French planes bombing the Mujahideen vehicles. The Mujahideen distanced one of the captives from the targeted vehicle, but were unable to reach the second one, who was later killed by the French in their air raid. He was not shot by the Mujahideen as the French claimed in their fabrications to sway the public opinion of their people. The French planes also bombed the Nigerien troops leading to a number of dead and injured! 6) The battled raged on, and the Mujahideen successfully killed and injured 4 French special forces and 12 other Nigerien soldiers, heavily damaged a French helicopter, and took 6 Nigerien soldiers as captives, some of them seriously injured by the French airstrike. One of our brothers from the “Azwad”, Muhammad Ould Hamdi, was martyred and another, Mustafa, a Nigerien Tuareg could not be located. We have no reports of his condition, and we consider as martyrs. 7) As the French paratroopers continued to descend from their planes, and as the vehicles of the Mujahideen were heavily damaged from the air raid, the Mujahideen believed that they could not escape alive, and so they decided to execute the second French captive with a bullet in the head. They also decided to execute the 6 Nigerien captives. And so they killed them, all praise be to Allah. 8) With the approach of nightfall, the Mujahideen were able to free themselves from the security noose around them and retreat by foot, protected from the heavens above, until they reached shelter and met up with their brothers in their bases safely, and all praise be to Allah. The heroic battle concluded, leaving the two captives dead, 22 dead and injured from the Nigerien and French forces, and heavily damaging a helicopter. Two brothers from the Mujahideen embraced martyrdom, while the rest of the heros reached their bases safely, and all praise be to Allah. We take this opportunity to congratulate and also send our condolences to the defiant tribes of the Azwad and the noble Tuaregs of Niger for the martyrdom of two of their lion cubs, Muhammad Ould Hamdi and Mustafa Al-Ansari, who honorably and bravely fought the Crusaders in the likes of the French, under the flag of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. We say to Sarkozy and his government: Its seems you still have not learnt anything from the lessons of [the previous captive Michelle] Germano. Now you have learnt another hard lesson taught to you by the Mujahidoon. Will you now understand? You have added another utter defeat and and loss to your history… will revise yourselves and your policies and stop your oppression against the Muslim Ummah and meddling in their affairs? We say to the French masses: Indeed your government has lied to you to free themselves of the responsibility of the death of the two French captives. The Mujahideen have exposed the true facts about which there is no doubt, which can be confirmed by any detailed autopsy of the two bodies. If you seek safety and security, you only have to pressure your government to change their tyrannical and foolish policies against Islam and the Muslims. To the Nigerien army we say: Now you have seen the Crusader French bomb you despite your protection of their and their people’s interest, and despite of your presence in the front lines side by side with the Crusadersfighting the Muslims. Have you not learnt a lesson and will you not repent and cease to defending the French and their interests? And our final prayer is that all praise be to Allah, the Lord of all that exists. Al-Qaedah in the Islamic Maghrib

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NOTE: Click here for an overview of the kidnapping from AFP.
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Statement from al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghreb- “Claiming Responsibility for Kidnapping Two French Citizens and Exposing the Folly of the French”
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