French soldiers have killed a senior jihadist commander, Yahya Abou El Hamame, in an operation in Mali, France’s Defense Minister Florence Parly said Friday.

The Algerian, an Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) commander, was allegedly responsible for the kidnapping of a number of Westerners in North and West Africa. A ministry statement said he was “the mastermind and financer of several attacks”.

Source: AFP