Two Islamist groups that broke away from al Qaeda's North African wing and fought in Mali have merged, pledging to attack French interests, according to a statement published on Thursday, reports Reuters.
The move unites fighters led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of an attack on an Algerian gas plant in January, with MUJWA, an Islamist group that was scattered by a French offensive on al Qaeda-linked rebels in Mali this year.
The two groups had already jointly claimed responsibility for raids in May that killed dozens at a barracks and damaged a uranium mine operated by France's Areva in Niger.
"It is the birth of a group that includes Mujahideen and even Muslims in North Africa from the country of the Nile and the Atlantic," Mauritania's Nouakchott Information Agency, ANI, quoted Belmokhtar as saying in a statement it received.
It was not possible to independently verify the report but North African Islamist militants frequently use ANI to publish their statements.
Read more of this report from Reuters.