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French troops in Mali have captured a senior member of the Sahel affiliate of the Islamic State group, the French military said Wednesday.
The arrest comes as France prepares to complete its withdrawal from Mali after almost a decade battling a jihadist insurgency in the country with the French-led Barkhane anti-insurgency force.
"In the night of June 11-12, an operation of the Barkhane force allowed the capture of Oumeya Ould Albakaye, a senior figure in the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS)," a spokesman for the chief of staff told AFP.