Lehbib Ould Ali Ould Said Ould Yumani, known as Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi (16 February 1973 – 17 August 2021), was a Sahrawi Islamic terrorist and leader of the

Islamic State in the Greater Sahara The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS) is a terrorist group adhering to the ideology of Salafi Jihadism. IS-GS was formed on 15 May 2015 as the result of a split within the militant group Al-Mourabitoun. The rift was a reaction to the ad ...

Biography

Al-Sahrawi was born in

Laayoune Laâyoune ( , also , ) or El Aaiún ( , ; Hassaniya Arabic: , romanized: ; ber, ⵍⵄⵢⵓⵏ, Leɛyun; ar, label= Literary Arabic, العيون, al-ʿUyūn/el-ʿUyūn, lit=The Springs) is the largest city of the disputed territory of We ...

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...

into a wealthy trading family that fled the city for refugee camps in Algeria. He joined the

Polisario Front The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in ar, rtl=yes, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الس� ...

and received military training, but he demobilised amid promises of a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

referendum on the status of Western Sahara. He studied social sciences at the Mentouri University of Constantine, from which he graduated in 1997. A year later he joined the Sahrawi Youth Union. In 2004, said to be suffering from health problems and depression, he turned to Islam after contact with students from the Ibn Abbas Institute in

Nouakchott , image_skyline = Nouakchott.jpg , image_caption = City view of Nouakchott , pushpin_map = Mauritania#Arab world#Africa , pushpin_relief = 1 , mapsize = , map_caption ...

. Around November 2010, he left

Tindouf Tindouf (Berber: Tinduf, ar, تندوف) is the main town, and a commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian, Western Saharan and Moroccan borders. The commune has population of around 160,000 but the census and population ...

in Algeria for northern Mali and joined the Katiba Tarik ibn Zayd, a unit of

al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims to o ...

. In October 2011, he was part of the group that founded the

Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (abbreviated MOJWA) or the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (abbreviated MUJWA; ar, جماعة التوحيد والجهاد في غرب أفريقيا ''Jamāʿat at-tawḥīd wal-jih ...

, alongside the Malian Ahmed al-Tilemsi and Sultan Ould Bady, as well as the Mauritanian Hamada Ould Mohamed Kheirou. While part of MUJWA/MUJAO, he was one of its most senior leaders, serving on its

Shura Shura ( ar, شُورَىٰ, translit=shūrā, lit=consultation) can for example take the form of a council or a referendum. The Quran encourages Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with each other. Shura is mentioned as a praisewort ...

council and communicating with international media as MUJWA's spokesman. By 2013, he was calling himself the leader of an organisation named the Mujahideen Shura Council in

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

, Mali. After MUJAO merged with

Mokhtar Belmokhtar Mokhtar Belmokhtar (; ar, مختار بلمختار;pronounced in Algerian Arabic as born 1 June 1972), also known as Khalid Abu al-Abbas, The One-Eyed, Nelson, and The Uncatchable, is an Algerian leader of the group Al-Murabitoun, former mil ...

's Al-Mulathameen group in August 2013 to form

Al-Mourabitoun The Independent Nasserite Movement – INM ( ar-at, حركة الناصريين المستقلين-المرابطون, translit=Harakat al-Nasiriyin al-Mustaqillin) or simply Al-Murabitoun ( lit. ''The Steadfast''), also termed variously Mouveme ...

, he was an important leader in Al-Murabitoun, later becoming its overall head. In March 2012, he was leading a group in control of the town of Askia. On 13 May 2015, Abu Walid declared his allegiance to

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ( ar, أبو بكر البغدادي, ʾAbū Bakr al-Baḡdādī; born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai ( ar, إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي, ʾIb ...

, leader of the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

, and formed the

. Not all of Al-Mourabitoun accepted the move, with Mokhtar Belmokhtar denying that al-Murabitoun had pledged to Baghdadi, causing a split in the group. More than a year and a half later, the allegiance was publicly accepted by ISIS's

Amaq News Agency Amaq News Agency ( ar, وكالة أعماق الإخبارية) is a news outlet linked to the Islamic State (IS). Amaq publishes news reports about claims of responsibility for terrorist attacks in Western countries. It is often the "first poi ...

. In May 2016, he was reported to have issued threats against the

government of Morocco The Cabinet of Morocco is the chief executive body of the Kingdom of Morocco. The Cabinet is usually composed of some 25 ministers and 5 to 10 "Secretaries of State" and "Minister Delegates". It is headed by the Prime Minister (officially ''Head o ...

. In June 2017, al-Sahrawi accused the Imghad and

Idaksahak The Dawsahak people, ''Idaksahak'' (var.: ''Daoussahak'',Edmond Bernus (ed.). Art of being Tuareg: Sahara nomads in a modern world. Indiana University Press (2006) p.291Jeffrey Heath. A grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali), Volume 35 of Mouton gra ...

communities of defending

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages In October 2017, he led the

Tongo Tongo ambush The Tongo Tongo ambush or the Niger ambush occurred on 4 October 2017, when armed militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien and US soldiers outside the village of Tongo Tongo, Niger, while they were returnin ...

against Nigerien and United States soldiers outside the village of Tongo Tongo, Niger. On 4 October 2019, the United States offered a $5 million reward under the

Rewards for Justice The Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is the counterterrorism and counterintelligence platform administered by the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service agency. The Rewards For Justice program is seeking information leading to the ...

program for information on his whereabouts. Al-Sahrawi was killed by French forces in the Sahel on 17 August 2021. After captured IS-GS members provided information on al-Sahrawi's likely hiding places, the assassination was conducted using a drone in the Dangalous Forest, located near Indelimane village in northern Mali and near the border with Niger, according to the Chief of the Defence Staff Thierry Burkhard. Burkhard added that al-Sahrawi was travelling on a motorcycle with another person when he was killed. A unit comprising 20 soldiers of the French Army's special forces was then sent to confirm the identities of those killed and found that the strike had killed ten IS-GS members. The announcement was delayed while Al-Sahrawi's identity was confirmed. French President Emmanuel Macron announced his death on 15 September. ISIS confirmed al-Sahrawi's death in October 2021.

Personal life

Al-Sahrawi was said to have married a

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

woman, in order to better integrate with cross-border communities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahrawi, Adnan Abu Walid 1973 births 2021 deaths Assassinated ISIL members Leaders of Islamic terror groups People from Laayoune Polisario Front politicians Sahrawi Islamists Sahrawi rebels