PARIS (Reuters) – France introduced on Wednesday that troopers from its operation battling Islamist militants in the Sahel area of West Africa had captured Oumeya Ould Albakaye, a senior Islamic State figure in Mali.

The French Armed Forces ministry stated Albakaye was captured by Operation Barkhane forces between the night time of June 11 and the early hours of June 12 near the border between Mali and Niger.

Souring relations between France and the army junta in its former colony of Mali have led France to withdraw troops that had been deployed in 2013 to push again militants linked to al Qaeda, and later to Islamic State.

Mali has been hit by violence since 2012 when jihadists took over the north. France beat them again, however by 2015 they’d regrouped and unleashed a wave of assaults in the centre. They have since unfold into Niger and Burkina Faso, elevating considerations about regional instability.

(Reporting by Tangi Salaun and Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by William Maclean)