Battle of Elakla

Barkhane forces launched an operation on the afternoon of 21 February after spotting three vehicles deemed suspicious moving throughout Tombouctou Region. The French army launched drone strikes on the vehicles, before sending in ground forces, five helicopters, and an MQ-9 drone.^[2] The aircraft took off at 1:13pm from Bou Djeheba, north of Timbuktu. An hour later, one pick-up was spotted by the drones, before being joined by two more vehicles. After a chase, two pick-ups stopped and surrendered after being shot at. The ground forces chased the third truck, but were only able to catch it after a second group of commandos intervened as it tried to blend into civilians.^[3] As the drivers felt trapped, they got out and shot at the French commandos, but were killed.^[2]

The French government claimed 11 fighters were put out of action, including Djamel Okacha and his two main deputies.^[4] Seifallah Ben Hassine, nom de guerre Abou Iyadh and leader of the Tunisian jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia, was also killed in the battle.^[5] Okacha's death was confirmed by Sedane Ag Hita, another top member of JNIM, and later JNIM leader and founder Abdelmalek Droukdel.^[6][7]