MINUSMA is the United Nations peacekeeping force, and shortly after it was implemented in the fallout of the Mali War, became a target of jihadist groups such as Ansar Dine and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

[1] Prior to the attack, the AQIM fighters had a lot of intelligence regarding the MINUSMA convoy, including how many soldiers would be on it and where it would be going and at what time.

[1] At the moment the jihadists attacked with rocket launchers and guns, the convoy was going at very high speeds, causing a "very violent" situation that surprised the peacekeepers.

[3] AQIM, in a press release to Mauritanian news agency al-Akhbar, claimed the deaths of seven peacekeepers and four destroyed vehicles.

[5] Another member of Katiba al-Furqan, a Spaniard named Abou al-Nour al-Andalusi led a group of twenty-five men in the video.