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Helicopter accident leaves 13 French troops dead in Mali Helicopter collision leaves 13 French troops dead in Mali
(32 minutes later)
Soldiers were taking part in operation against jihadistsSoldiers were taking part in operation against jihadists
Thirteen French soldiers have been killed in a helicopter accident while participating in an operation against jihadists in Mali. Thirteen French troops were killed in a midair collision between two helicopters in Mali on Monday night as they fought Islamic militants in the west African country.
The incident happened on Monday, the office of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said in a statement. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, expressed his “deep sadness” at the crash, stressing the “courage of the French soldiers” in what he called the “hard fight against terrorism” in west Africa’s Sahel region.
France, the region’s former colonial power, has had about 4,500 combat troops in west Africa since 2012, when militants captured the city of Timbuktu and threatened to advance into the centre of Mali. A total of 38 French soldiers have been killed in Mali since France launched a military intervention in 2013. The former colonial power in the region, France sent troops after militants captured the Mali city of Timbuktu and threatened to advance into the centre of the country in 2012. France’s operation in the Sahel is now its largest overseas military mission.
The G5 Sahel, a joint taskforce, was created in 2014 to try to tackle the problem of groups with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State who from their stronghold in Mali have been able to strike across the Sahel, destabilising parts of Niger and Burkina Faso. More than 4,500 French troops are currently countering Islamist insurgencies across theregion, where violence by militants linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State in the sparely-populated area has spread in recent years.
The G5 Sahel is backed by France and has pooled troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger since July 2017 in an effort to drive back the jihadist groups. The border countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have become the scene of repeated clashes with jihadist fighters. Groups with links to al-Qaida and Isis based in Mali have been able to strike across the Sahel, destabilising parts of Niger and Burkina Faso.
A series of jihadist raids in late September underscored the increasing reach and sophistication of armed groups operating in the region. Thousands of civilians and soldiers have died in the violence across the Sahel that began when armed Islamists revolted in northern Mali in 2012. The conflict has enflamed ethnic tensions in the region and thousands have fled their homes.
Earlier this month, Islamic militants killed dozens of Malian soldiers in one of the deadliest strikes against the country’s military in recent memory. In the past two months, a new surge in extremist attacks in Mali has killed well over 100 local troops, with Isis often claiming responsibility.
Earlier this month, Islamic militants in Mali killed dozens of local soldiers in one of the deadliest strikes against the country’s military in recent memory. At least 53 soldiers and one civilian died in the attack on an isolated military base in the north-east of the country, the government said.
The complex military operations in the desert north of Mali have been described as a game of cat and mouse in a vast territory with a highly mobile enemy, able to vanish into the landscape. “They are here but hidden; we search for them but can’t find them. This is an impossible war,” a non-commissioned officer told AFP in the region this month.
The US has described the Sahel region is an emerging front in the fight against Isis and other extremist groups. Before his death this year, the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, congratulated “brothers” in Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso for pledging allegiance.
France’s Barkhane military operation is one of a number of efforts against a growing extremist threat including a five-nation regional counter-terrorism force — which has suffered difficulties with funding, training and equipment — and a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali.