According to Paris authorities, French troops patrolling along the Mali-Niger border have apprehended a top member of the Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS).

Mission Barkhane took Oumeya Ould Albakaye, a French military operation engaged in the Sahel region since 2013.

According to the statement, the military activity that began weeks ago featured air forces and one ground unit. Several cell phones and weapons have been seized, the army added.

Albakaye was the leader of the ISGS, a group linked with ISIL (ISIS), in the Mali and Burkina Faso provinces of Gourma and Oudalan, respectively. According to the French army, he was also responsible for coordinating a network that utilized explosive devices.

ISGS was established in 2015 by Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, who was murdered in September last year.

Violence has plagued Mali for a decade, particularly in its territory bordering Niger and Burkina Faso. In 2013, France intervened to put down a northern rebellion. However, the rebels regrouped and launched a full-scale revolution that elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was powerless to stop.

In August 2020, angry Malian army colonels staged a coup against President Keita, followed by a second military takeover in May 2021.

As a result of the military's opposition to setting an early date for restoring civilian administration and Bamako's accusations that France was instigating regional neighbors to adopt a hard stance against its military authority, ties with France began to deteriorate.

Mali's military strengthened its connections with Moscow in 2021, bringing in "military instructors" that France and its allies referred to as mercenaries employed by the pro-Kremlin Wagner group.

The French ambassador to Bamako was dismissed in January of this year, and France announced the withdrawal of its troops from Mali and the French-led Takuba force the following month.

Initially pledging to hand over authority to civilians by February 2022, the military extended the timeline to March 24 on Monday, a decision that was not welcomed by regional body ECOWAS, which has placed sanctions on Mali.