By Olivier FourtPosted on 24-06-2019Modified on 24-06-2019 at 21:21
A Gazelle helicopter of Operation Barkhane was shot down by jihadists on 14 June on the border between Mali and Niger. The French General Staff spoke of an "emergency landing". The three soldiers wounded in the crash were able to join a military hospital in France.
Friday, June 14, in the morning. Barkhane's soldiers fight in the heart of a jihadist hideout on the border between Mali and Niger, aided by the forces of both countries. A French Gazelle helicopter then fired 7.62 caliber Kalashnikov-PKM machine gun fire which caused a fire and then a loss of engine power, forcing the crew to make a forced landing near the fighting on dusty ground and with visibility. scaled down.
The pilot and the skipper at the front of the aircraft are injured in the shock. In the back, a sniper commando is doing a little better. He manages to extract his comrades from the aircraft, before a Tiger attack helicopter comes to assist them, at the risk of being shot in his turn.
But this two-seater machine is not designed for transport. Barkhane's soldiers then apply an immediate extraction measure: the two most seriously wounded soldiers are strapped to the outside of the aircraft near the landing gear. The commando joins the broken machine, blows it up and exfilters into another device.
This event testifies to the preparations for the fighting that took place in recent weeks on the border between Mali and Niger. On that day, 20 members of an armed group believed to be members of the Islamic State for the Great Sahara were killed or taken prisoner. Twenty motorcycles, weapons and means of communication were recovered, then said the French staff.
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