Talha al-Libi

Talha was born in 1972 or the 1980s in Zouérat, Mauritania, to a Mauritanian father and Malian mother originally from Timbuktu.^[1][2][3] His family fled to Libya during the Tuareg rebellion of the 1990s, where Talha grew up.^[4] In 2006, Talha joined the Algerian terrorist group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which became Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb shortly afterward.^[5] He was one of the first Mauritanians in the group.^[5] He fought under the orders of Abou Zeid, the leader of AQIM, within the Katiba Tarik Ibn Zayed.^[3] He participated in the Tourine ambush in 2008 against Mauritanian forces.^[2] When interviewed by Al Jazeera in 2012, he claimed to have traveled to Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Algeria.^[4]

During the fall of Timbuktu, Talha was active as the head of the Islamic Police of Timbuktu between April 2012 and January 2013 when the city was under jihadist control.^[5][6] Following the death of Abdallah al-Chinguetti in February 2013, Talha succeeded him as emir of Katiba al-Furqan.^[7] As emir of Katiba al-Furqan, Talha sought closer ties between Malian Arabs and Tuareg clans, in particular the Awlad Ich and Awlad Idriss tribes in the Tombouctou Region.^[8]

In a 2015 video, Talha asked Awlad Ich members to join AQIM in the region, and called for rebellion against French forces.^[8][9] Talha also appeared in a January 2016 video where he called for a return to Sharia law in northern Mali.^[8] He succeeded Abu Yahya al-Jazairi as head of JNIM in Tombouctou Region when Jazairi was killed in a clash with Malian forces in 2020.^[8][10] He is considered to be one of the most senior figures within Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.^[11]

• Les lieutenants du chef jihadiste malien Iyad Ag Ghali, « l’ennemi public numéro un » - Jeune Afrique
• Abd al-Rahman Talha al-Libi - Counterextremism Project