BANJUL, Gambia, Nov 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A former member of a Gambian death squad suspected of killing AFP's correspondent in the west African country in 2004 was arrested on Saturday in neighbouring Senegal, the Gambian government said.

Gambian authorities said Sanna Manjang served in the notorious "Junglers" paramilitary unit, which ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh used to crush opposition to his eccentric and brutal rule.

At hearings dealing with abuses committed during Jammeh's more than two decades in power, Manjang was accused of being one of the murderers of longtime AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, who was gunned down in his car on the outskirts of the capital Banjul on December 16, 2004.

"Sanna Manjang... who has been implicated in serious human rights violations during the administration of former President Yahya Jammeh, was apprehended in the early hours of this morning in the Casamance Region of southern Senegal," a Gambian government statement said.

Manjang, who has been on the run since Jammeh was forced into exile in January 2017, will now be repatriated to The Gambia to face trial, the statement added.

His arrest was the fruit of cooperation between the Senegalese and Gambian authorities, the government said.

Hydara, a father-of-four who was in his 60s at the time of his murder, had worked for AFP since 1974, first as a translator and then as a journalist.

Co-founder of the independent newspaper The Point, he was often critical of the government, elite corruption and attacks on press freedom.

A 2006 report by The Gambia's secret services shed no light on the circumstances of his death.

It was only after Jammeh was forced out of the country that the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) looking into crimes committed during his rule uncovered details of Hydara's murder.

Former Jungler member Malick Jatta testified to the TRRC in July 2019 that he, along with Manjang and another paramilitary, had fired at the journalist.

Another Jungler involved in Hydara's murder, hitman Bai Lowe, was jailed for life in Germany for his role in the unit, with the top court rejecting his appeal in 2024.

The Junglers worked independently of the regular army, and the death squad has long been accused of extrajudicial killings and torture by the United Nations and rights groups.

Jammeh, who came to power after a 1994 coup, was forced to flee to Equatorial Guinea after losing a presidential election in December 2016 to opposition leader Adama Barrow.

The Gambia's government has vowed to arrest Jammeh if he ever sets foot in the country again.