Country Report on Terrorism 2021 - Chapter 5 - Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM)

Aka Jamaat Nosrat al-Islam wal-Mouslimin; Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims; Group to Support Islam and Muslims; GSIM; GNIM; Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen

Description:  Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) was designated as an FTO on September 6, 2018.  JNIM has described itself as al-Qa’ida’s official branch in Mali and has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks and kidnappings since its 2017 formation.  That year the Sahara Branch of al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb, al-Murabitoun, Ansar al-Dine, and the Macina Liberation Front came together to form JNIM.  JNIM is led by Iyad ag Ghali.  Multiple JNIM senior leaders have been killed in recent years, including JNIM’s former second in command, Ali Maychou, in 2019, senior JNIM commander Bah Ag Moussa in 2020, and senior leader Abdallaye Ag Albaka in 2021.

Activities:  In 2017, JNIM carried out an attack at a resort frequented by westerners outside of Bamako, Mali, and was responsible for the large-scale coordinated attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in 2018.

In 2018, JNIM claimed responsibility for a suicide attack against an African Defeat-ISIS Coalition base in Mali that killed at least 6 persons and a truck bomb in a residential complex in Gao, killing 3 and injuring 30.  In 2019, JNIM claimed responsibility for an attack against a UN base in northern Mali, killing 10 Chadian Peacekeepers and wounding 25 others; an assault on a Malian military base, killing 11 soldiers; and a landmine under a passenger bus in central Mali, killing 14 civilians and injuring another 24.

In 2020, JNIM claimed responsibility for an attack against a Malian military camp near the border with Mauritania that killed 20 members of Mali’s security forces and wounded 5 others and a March raid on a Malian Army base in the northern town of Tarkint that killed at least 29 soldiers and wounded 5 others.

In 2021, JNIM claimed responsibility for numerous attacks including an April attack on a UN Peacekeeper camp in northern Mali that killed four Chadian Peacekeepers and wounded 34 others; an October complex IED attack in central Mali that killed 16 Malian soldiers and wounded 11 others; and multiple smaller attacks on Malian soldiers throughout the year.  JNIM also claimed responsibility for the April abduction of a French reporter working in Mali.

Strength:  JNIM is estimated to have between 1,000 and 2,000 fighters.

Location/Area of Operation:  Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Niger

Funding and External Aid:  JNIM receives funding through kidnapping for ransom and extortion and from smugglers and traffickers who pay a tax in exchange for permission and safe transit through JNIM-controlled trafficking routes in Mali.

Associated documents