Al-Mourabitoun (militant group): what Wikipedia removed
Al-Mourabitoun was an African militant jihadist organization active from 2013 to 2017 that later merged into Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Through 2015 the opening said the group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Today the opening carries none of that designation, though the word survives 17 times in the body. A reader arriving now learns it sought to implement Sharia law and merged with other groups, and not that five governments and the UN designated it a terrorist organization.
The word “terror” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2015. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 17. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| militant | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| islamist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| jihad | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The organization’s description was reworded with minor phrasing changes, no fact lost.
- The sentence identifying a founding leader as a veteran of the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan and the 2002 battles is gone from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2015 (revision 668139603):
Al-Mourabitoun ( Template:Lang-ar al-Murābiṭūn ; “The Sentinels”) is an African militant Jihadist organisation formed by a merger between Ahmed Telmissi’s Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa and Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Masked Men Brigade. Al-Mourabitoun is composed mostly of Tuaregs and Arabs from the northern Mali regions of Timbuktu , Kidal and Gao , but also includes Algerians, Tunisians and other nationalities. Its area of operations is in the north of Mali, near towns such as Tessalit and Ansongo . Although the group’s establishment was announced by Belmokhtar, the group’s leader was said to be a non-Algerian veteran of the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan and the 2002 battles ag…
2025 (revision 1296269296):
2013–2017 Former African militant jihadist organization For the Lebanese political party, see Al-Mourabitoun . Al-Mourabitoun ( Arabic : المرابطون , romanized : al-Murābiṭūn , lit. ’ The Sentinels ’ ) was an African militant jihadist organization formed by a merger between Ahmed Ould Amer, a.k.a. Ahmed al-Tilemsi’s Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa , and Mokhtar Belmokhtar ‘s Al-Mulathameen . On 4 December 2015, it joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group sought to implement Sharia law in Mali, Algeria, southwestern Libya, and Niger. On 2 March 2017, al-Mourabitoun’s cells in Mali , along with those of Ansar Dine , Macina Liberation Front and the Saharan branch of…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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