Malian special forces arrested a senior man from the Ansar Dine group on Tuesday close to a central military base where he is accused of planning an attack that killed 17 soldiers.
“Today, at around 4 p.m. (1600 GMT) our special forces captured Mahmoud Barry, alias Abou Yehiya,” one of the most senior figures in the group’s branch operating in central Mali, an intelligence officer told AFP.
Other security sources confirmed the arrest, adding that Barry was the “emir” of Ansar Dine’s Macina combat unit and was behind several attacks on Malian security forces since last year. 
He is suspected of taking part in last week’s attack on a military base of Nampala, near the border with Mauritania, that left 17 soldiers dead and another 35 wounded, said a security source. Barry was captured between the military base of Nampala and Dogofri, in the central region of Segou.

Source: Arab News