Ibrahim Malam Dicko

Boureima Dicko (1970 – 2 May 2017), nom de guerre Ibrahim Malam Dicko, was a Burkinabe jihadist and the founder of Ansarul Islam.

Biography Early life Dicko was born in 1970 to a Fulani family from the commune of Soboulé, Soum Province, Upper Volta. He went to a regular school before entering a Quranic school in Burkina Faso, later studying abroad. He married the daughter of the Grand Imam in Djibo. Dicko began preaching in villages across Soum in 2009 and local radio stations. Dicko had a bounty put on him for attempting to join Ansar Dine. He was handed over to Malian forces, and imprisoned in Bamako before being released in 2015.

In 2015, Dicko attempted to join Katiba Macina led by increasingly-popular preacher Amadou Koufa. Dicko had been present in the Foulsaré forest at the time of a French raid on May 2, in which he was targeted by French helicopters. A member of Dicko's entourage who was present during the raid stated that when Dicko ran off, he was weakened by his diabetes and without food and resources, he died of exhaustion shortly after the battle. Dicko was buried where he laid.