By RFPosted on 29-11-2019Modified on 29-11-2019 at 00:14
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed on Thursday (November 28th) that it caused a collision between two French helicopters, in which 13 soldiers were killed in Mali, forcing one of the aircraft to retreat after an ambush.
The two French military helicopters collided on Monday, November 25 during a night-fighting operation against jihadists in southern Mali at war.
According to the French army, they had been called in support of paratroopers commandos engaged against enemies, in a sector where the French anti-jihadist force Barkhane regularly conducts operations against armed groups, including the group Islamic State in the Great Sahara (GSIM).
In a statement posted on its usual Telegram channels, the EI organization said it ambushed a convoy of French soldiers in the Menaka area, and clashes erupted.
A helicopter carrying reinforcements to help the ground troops attempted to land at the ambush site, but " caliphate soldiers fired at the aircraft, forcing it to retreat and finally entered in collision with another helicopter causing the death of 13 soldiers, "the statement said.
In this claim, they did not say that they touched the helicopters when they could have done so. Which could have been interpreted as an outbidding or opportunism on their part. (...) So we really stick to the official version with some more details.
Wassim Nasr
29-11-2019 - By Florence Morice
(with AFP)
On the same subject
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