The Latest Breaking News from al Qaeda

In the 2012 Hollywood hit “Zero Dark Thirty,” a red-haired Central Intelligence Agency analyst played by Jessica Chastain travels to a secret CIA prison and watches a colleague waterboard a screaming Al Qaeda suspect, then lock him in a box a little bigger than a mini-fridge, to make him talk.

It was market day in the town of Moura in central Mali when Malian troops backed by white mercenaries descended in helicopters and opened fire on bewildered residents, according to witnesses' accounts.

France's army said Monday that its anti-jihadist force in Mali had killed Yahia Djouadi, a "senior leader" of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) responsible for finance and logistics.

With France expected to announce the withdrawal of troops from Mali on Thursday, Mali's transitional government will have a free hand to negotiate directly with jihadist groups affiliated with al Qaeda, a move strongly opposed by Paris.

(This February 4 story deletes incorrect description of Boko Haram as an affiliate of Al Qaeda in paragraph 14; corrects number of Islamic State affiliates in West and Central Africa in paragraph 15; relationship between Islamic State West Africa Province and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara in paragraph 17;…

A US-led coalition raid on Thursday targeted a suspected al Qaeda-affiliated militants in the northern Syrian town of Atmeh, resulting in several civilian casualties, said residents and sources. One resident said at least 12 people were killed in the raid that took place around midnight in a densely populated area…

A US-led coalition raid on Thursday targeted a suspected al Qaeda-affiliated jihadist in the northern Syrian town of Atmeh, resulting in several civilian casualties, said residents and sources with the rebels fighting against the Syrian government.

Attacks by jihadists linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group have killed thousands and displaced an estimated 1.5 million people in Burkina Faso since 2015. Members of the army, critical of the government's strategy for battling Islamist terrorism, detained the president and seized power on January 23. FRANCE…