al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (Arabic: تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, romanized: Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī, French: l'Organisation d'Al-Qaïda aux Pays du Maghreb Islamique), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) active in North Africa. To that end, it was then engaged in an insurgency campaign in the Maghreb and Sahel regions.

The terrorist group originated as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). It has since declared its intention to attack European (including Spanish and French) and American targets. The terrorist group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Membership is mostly drawn from the Algerian and local Saharan communities (such as the Tuaregs and Berabiche tribal clans of Mali), as well as Moroccans from city suburbs of the North African country. The group has also been suspected of having links with the Horn of Africa-based militant group al-Shabaab. AQIM has focused on kidnapping for ransom as a means of raising funds and is estimated to have raised more than $50 million in the last decade.

On 2 March 2017, the Sahara branch of AQIM merged with Macina Liberation Front, Ansar Dine, and al-Mourabitoun, into Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.