Abu Hassan al-Ansari
{{Short description|Malian jihadist}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Abu Hassan al-Ansari
| death_date = February 14, 2018
| birth_place = Tilemsi, Gao Region, Mali
| death_place = Inaghalawass, Mali
| allegiance = {{flagdeco|al-Qaeda}} al-Mourabitoun (?–2015)
{{flagdeco|al-Qaeda}} Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (2017–2018)
| rank = Emir
| battles = Islamist insurgency in the Sahel
}}
Mohamed Ould Nouini, nom de guerre Abu Hassan al-Ansari (also written Abou Hassan al-Ansari) was a Malian jihadist known for perpetrating the 2016 Ouagadougou attacks and the Grand-Bassam attack, along with his high position in Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
Biography
al-Ansari was born a Tilemsi Arab from the Tilemsi region of Gao.{{Cite web |title=Sahel : à la recherche du jihadiste Mohamed Ould Nouini – Jeune Afrique |url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/431794/politique/sahel-a-recherche-jihadiste-mohamed-ould-nouini/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=JeuneAfrique.com |language=fr-FR |archive-date=2023-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101040635/https://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/431794/politique/sahel-a-recherche-jihadiste-mohamed-ould-nouini/ |url-status=live }} He is the cousin of Ahmed al-Tilemsi, the founder of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) who was killed in 2014.
al-Ansari is suspected of planning and perpetrating the 2016 Ouagadougou attacks that killed 30 people, and the Grand-Bassam shootings later that year in Ivory Coast. In 2016, he was considered the right-hand man of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).{{Cite news |date=2017-03-10 |title=De la naissance d'un nouveau " djihadistan " au Sahel |language=fr |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2017/03/10/naissance-d-un-nouveau-djihadistan-au-sahel_5092710_3212.html |access-date=2023-11-01 |archive-date=2023-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929211656/https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2017/03/10/naissance-d-un-nouveau-djihadistan-au-sahel_5092710_3212.html |url-status=live }} al-Ansari also led Al-Mourabitoun in Mali in 2015.
He appeared in the 2017 video that announced the creation of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin as a merger of five different jihadist groups led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. al-Ansari was killed in the 2018 Inaghalawass skirmish. JNIM retaliated by launching the 2018 Ouagadougou attacks.{{Cite web |date=2018-03-03 |title=Après la double attaque de Ouagadougou, l'enquête progresse |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2018/03/03/01003-20180303ARTFIG00147-un-groupe-djihadiste-revendique-la-double-attaque-de-ouagadougou.php |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Le Figaro |language=fr |archive-date=2023-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101040634/https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2018/03/03/01003-20180303ARTFIG00147-un-groupe-djihadiste-revendique-la-double-attaque-de-ouagadougou.php |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2018-03-04 |title=Ouagadougou: qui est Hassan al-Ansari, tué dans un raid français en février? |url=https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20180304-attaques-ouagadougou-hassan-al-ansari-gsim-iyad-ag-ghali |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=RFI |language=fr |archive-date=2023-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101040635/https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20180304-attaques-ouagadougou-hassan-al-ansari-gsim-iyad-ag-ghali |url-status=live }}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansari, Abu Hassan}}
Category:Year of birth missing
Category:Malian Al-Qaeda members
Category:People from Gao Region
Category:Members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Category:Deaths by French airstrikes
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