Three French soldiers were wounded Friday in the emergency landing of their helicopter during a joint operation with the Malian army in north-eastern Mali, said Monday the staff of the French armed forces in a statement .
Twenty jihadists were "put out of action" during this operation, conducted Thursday and Friday with the support of Tiger combat helicopters, a Reaper drone and Mirage fighter planes in southern Mali Liptako , close to Niger, added the staff, confirming a report given Saturday night by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa).
The days of the soldiers are not in danger
"On June 14, a Gazelle-type helicopter deployed in support of ground troops was forced into an emergency landing," said the staff. "The three crewmembers were evacuated to Gao's medical center and evacuated to France as a precautionary measure, their days are not in danger," he added. .
The device has been "recovered and extracted from the area" but will be difficult to repair, said the spokesman of the staff, General Patrik Steiger. Excavations carried out in the area allowed to seize "about twenty motorcycles, the means of observation and communication, as well as the armament". The operation was "triggered in coordination with the Nigerian army operating south of the border, and thanks to his intelligence," said the staff.
Areas that still escape the forces of Mali and France
A jihadist group calling itself "Islamic State in the Great Sahara" (EIGS) is active mainly in this region of Menaka and on the other side of the border with Niger. He notably claimed the Tongo Tongo attack in October 2017 in Niger. This ambush cost the lives of four US soldiers and four Nigerian soldiers.
Northern Mali had fallen in March-April 2012 under the guise of jihadist groups, largely dispersed by a military intervention launched in January 2013 at the initiative of France. This intervention continues with the operation Barkhane, which mobilizes some 4,500 soldiers in the Sahel.
But entire areas of Mali are beyond the control of the Malian, French and UN forces, despite the signing in 2015 of a peace agreement meant to isolate the jihadists definitively. Since 2015, violence has spread from the North to the center, and sometimes to the South. They are very often involved in inter-community conflicts, a phenomenon that is also experienced by neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.