Spanish Al Qaeda leader killed by French commandos in Timbuktu

A senior leader of Al Qaeda's North African affiliate, Abu al-Nur al-Andalusi, was killed by a French counterterror force in the city of Timbuktu in central Mali, reports said Thursday. The 35-year-old Spaniard from the city of Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco, often appeared in the propaganda broadcasts of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) calling on Spanish citizens to join the terrorist organization and carry out attacks in Spain. More than 3,500 French soldiers have been stationed in Mali since 2013 as part of the French government's effort to eradicate terror in France.