APPREHENDED
- Full name: N/a
- Pseudonym: Abu Talha al-Tunsi
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Algeria, fmr Niger, fmr Mali, fmr Libya, fmr Tunisia
- Affiliation: Brigade of the Masked Ones [KaM], fmr Base Organization in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM]
Laâroussi Derbali (°ca 1979) was a shadowy jihadi from the Tunisian town of Siliana. He was apolitical as a young man and served two stints in prison before joining the Base Organization in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM; Tanzim al-Qa’ida fi-Bilad al-Maghreb al-Islami] in 2009.1 Because of his mixed martial arts skills, Derbali was tasked by the AQIM with training Tunisian jihadis at camps in Mali.2 He became an associate of Mokhtar Belmokhtar and later joined his Brigade of the Masked Ones [KaM. Katiba al-Mulathameen].3
Derbali was instrumental in preparing and executing the KaM’s January 2013 storming of the gas field of In Aménas, in Algeria’s Illizi province.4 At least 36 foreign engineers were killed during the incident. Derabli had trained his men for months in Niger and headed one of the bands that raided the facility.5 He was captured by Algerian security forces in the immediate wake of the attack.6
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