page_title: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
section_title: International links
hierarchical_section_title: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb / International links
caption_attribution_description: A newly-created AQIM Touareg brigade aims to control a large area of the Sahel. www.magharebia.com/r/6k2y كتيبة الطوارق الجديدة التي شكلها تنظيم القاعدة في المغرب الإسلامي تهدف إلى السيطرة على منطقة الساحل. www.magharebia.com/r/6k2w Une nouvelle brigade d'AQMI, dirigée par des Touaregs, a pour ambition de contrôler un vaste secteur du Sahel. www.magharebia.com/r/6k2z
context_page_description: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization which aims to overthrow the Algerian government and institute an Islamic state. To that end, it is currently engaged in an anti-government campaign.
  The group originated as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. It has since declared its intention to attack European and American targets. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
  Membership is mostly drawn from the Algerian and local Saharan communities, as well as Moroccans from city suburbs of the North African country. The leadership are mainly Algerians. The group has also been suspected of having links with the Horn of Africa-based militant group Al-Shabaab.
  AQIM has focused on kidnapping for ransom as a means of raising funds and is estimated to have raised more than $50 million in the last decade.
  On 2 March 2017, the Sahara branch of AQIM merged with Macina Liberation Front, Ansar Dine and Al-Mourabitoun into Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
context_section_description: Allegations of the former GSPCs links to al-Qaeda predated the September 11 attacks. As followers of a Qutbist strand of Salafist jihadism, the members of the GSPC were thought to share al-Qaeda's general ideological outlook. After the deposition of Hassan Hattab, various leaders of the group pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda.
  In November 2007, Nigerian authorities arrested five men for alleged possession of seven sticks of dynamite and other explosives. Nigerian prosecutors alleged that three of the accused had trained for two years with the then Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Algeria. In January 2008 the Dakar Rally was cancelled due to threats made by associated terrorist organizations.
  In late 2011, the splinter group Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa was founded in order to spread jihadi activities further into West Africa. Their military leader is Omar Ould Hamaha, a former AQIM fighter.
  According to U.S. Army General Carter Ham, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab, and the Nigeria-based Boko Haram were as of June 2012 attempting to synchronize and coordinate their activities in terms of sharing funds, training and explosives. Ham added that he believed that the collaboration presented a threat to both U.S. homeland security and the local authorities. However, according to counter-terrorism specialist Rick Nelson with the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies, there was little evidence that the three groups were targeting U.S. areas, as each was primarily interested in establishing fundamentalist administrations in their respective regions.
  In a 2013, Al Jazeera interview in Timbuktu, AQIM commander Talha claimed that his movement went to Niger, Algeria, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, to organize cells of AQIM. He explained their strategy: "There are many people who have nothing, and you can reach them by the word of God, or by helping them."
caption: AQIM Tuareg militant in Sahel, December 2012.
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