A raid by the Barkhane force, involving air assets and the intervention of men on the ground, in the region of Mopti, allowed to put "hors de combat" a "thirty terrorists".
The French army led in the night from Thursday to Friday an operation in central Mali that allowed the "putting out of action" of "thirty terrorists" , announced Friday evening the General Staff in a communicated.
Severe blow to terrorist groups operating in Mali: the main executives of the Katiba Massina put out of action by #Barkhane in the night of 22 to 23 November 2018. https://t.co/EQifiGBnwM pic.twitter.com/mDKPUAXHt0
- Armed Forces General Staff (@StateMajorFR) November 23, 2018Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly hailed "a large-scale, complex and daring action that neutralized a large terrorist detachment in which one of Iyad ag Ghali's senior aides, Hamadoun Kouffa, chief of the katiba Massina " .
I salute the courageous and effective action of the soldiers involved in this operation. This new success of the French military engagement in the Sahel illustrates our will to fight terrorism without hesitation 2/6
- Florence Parly (@florence_parly) November 23, 2018A group causing bloody attacks
A radical Islamic preacher of Mopti, Hamadoun Kouffa inspired the Massina Liberation Movement, otherwise known as Katiba Massina.
On its website, Human Rights Watch, a human rights organization, accuses the group of "attacking army bases and police and gendarmerie stations" and "executing numerous people he considered to be military informants, as well as state agents, including mayors and local administrators. "
A "serious blow" to terrorists
"The operation conducted last night is a serious blow to a particularly brutal terrorist organization, which has repeatedly targeted civilians and symbols of the authority of the Malian state , " said the minister.
"The weakening of terrorist groups is essential to consider the return of public services, access to education, the gradual normalization of daily life ," added Florence Parly. Military action is only effective if it is followed by a development policy. This is how Barkhane conceives his mission. "