AFRICA

Operation Targets Purported “Katiba Serma” in Mali

OE Watch Commentary: Among the jihadist groups in Mali are the well-known Source: “Bilan de l’opération contre la katiba Serma
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its Malian offshoot, Jama’at Nasr al- au Mali (Review of the operation against katiba
Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), and JNIM’s Burkina Faso-oriented offshoot, Ansroul Serma in Mali),” RFI Afrique, 10 January 2019.
Islam. Also active in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso is the Islamic State in Iraq and http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20190110-bilan-operation-
Syria (ISIS)-loyal Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Yet around the town of contre-katiba-serma-mali
Serma in northern Mali, there is also a local jihadist group that is allied with JNIM,
After several days of operations in the region of
but does not have its own formal name. It is now being referred to, however, as Katiba
Boni, Mali, the headquarters of the armies in Paris
Serma (Serma Brigade) as reported in the accompanying excerpted article from the
said that the operation targeted Katiba Serma.
French-language RFI Afrique.
A military maneuver that occurred in two stages
The article discusses an operation in early January in a town called Boni near Serma between January 4 and 9 permitted the capture or
where the French-led Operation Barkhane, in coordination with Malian Armed Forces, killing of about twenty jihadists. The mission was
carried out air strikes on Katiba Serma. According to the article, up to 20 jihadists in conducted in coordination with the Malian Armed
Katiba Serma were killed and five of the jihadists were captured and then evacuated Forces and involved Mountain Commandos and
out of the area by helicopter. Presumably, they could provide valuable intelligence French Parachute Commandos. Katiba Serma is
recruiting in the Fulani community of central Mali
information to the Operation Barkhane forces. In addition to this, a training base and
and could be involved in major terrorist operations in
weapons storage depot was discovered around the town. According to the article, most
neighboring countries, particularly in Burkina Faso.
of Katiba Serma’s members, including those who were arrested, are Fulani.

What is notable about this article is that it now formally refers to Katiba Serma by that name even though no group has previously gone by that
moniker. This could indicate that Katiba Serma has certain unique attributes in terms of its area of operations around Serma, its style of attack,
such as using IEDs and conducting ambushes, and its ideology, which is similar to the other al-Qaeda groups, that the media now brands it as
Katiba Serma. For the time being Katiba Serma is still localized, but because it is part of broader network in Mali and the Sahel, and it is thus
one component of a larger jihadist insurgency. Although the successful operation described in the article may limit Katiba Serma’s capabilities in
the short-term, the media is bringing new attention on its militancy. It remains to be seen whether it will ever formally announce itself as Katiba
Serma and gain increased attention or whether it will be a name only used in the media. End OE Watch Commentary (Zenn)

“Katiba Serma is recruiting in the Fulani community of central Mali and could be involved in major
terrorist operations in neighboring countries, particularly in Burkina Faso.”

French and Malian military northeast of Gao, 2017.

Source: France 3 Grand Est [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BarkhaneGao2017(8).jpg.

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