Tuareg rebellion (2012): 2012 coup Internal conflict in Azawad: Foreign intervention: 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 In early December 2013, the French army launched an operation in the Timbuktu region, where many jihadist movements were reported.

The French combed an area between the towns of Bouje-Baya and Araouane and attacked a katiba of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

On 15 December, the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed that 19 men were killed on the side of the jihadists.

The result was a score of "terrorists" killed while a jihadist training camp and two supply points were discovered.

The camp included a gas station, buried stock mechanical parts, pickup hidden under straw roofs, caches of drugs and firing ranges.