Abdelmalek Droukdel, known by his alias as Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud, was the emir, or leader, of the Algerian Islamic militant group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.
11 Facts About Abdelmalek Droukdel
2.
Abdelmalek Droukdel was killed during a French special operation during the Battle of Talahandak.
3.
Abdelmalek Droukdel earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Blida before joining the insurgency in 1996.
4.
Abdelmalek Droukdel returned to Algeria after fighting in the Afghan civil war, and joined the GSPC.
5.
Abdelmalek Droukdel was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's commander in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui.
6.
Abdelmalek Droukdel was unable to quell the rumblings between factions.
7.
However, the local leaders of the organization such as Abdelmalek Droukdel began to pursue much more independent activities and were distanced from al-Qaeda in the last quarter of 2012.
8.
Abdelmalek Droukdel ousted Mokhtar Belmokhtar from the organization in late 2012 for Belmokhtar's "fractious behaviour".
9.
Journalists discovered a document attributed to Abdelmalek Droukdel and dated 20 July 2012 in Timbuktu that criticized militants for implementing Islamic law too quickly in Mali.
10.
Abdelmalek Droukdel believed the destruction of shrines would provoke Western governments to intervene in Mali.
11.
Abdelmalek Droukdel was replaced by Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi as the leader of AQIM.