The situation is still very difficult for the soldiers in Mali. Two French soldiers of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane were injured during the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) while passing their supply truck in the region of Timbuktu in the north of the country. The attack was claimed by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), a jihadist organization linked to Al-Qaida.
Their vital prognosis is not engaged
The explosion of the IED caused a fire to start in the cabin of the CaRaPACE vehicle (Front-end Oil Tanker Truck with Extended Capacity), quickly brought under control. “The two soldiers there were able to leave the vehicle to go to safety. Wounded, their vital prognosis is not engaged, "detailed Thursday evening the French general staff. The two French soldiers "have been evacuated by helicopter and will be repatriated to France in the coming hours," the army said, adding that "the impact of the explosion was mitigated by the armor of the cabin" of this super heavyweight, the first copy of which was deployed in the Sahel in the summer of 2018.
Jihadist attacks are recurrent in this region. Shortly before that against the French, at least seven Malian soldiers were killed in the night from Wednesday to Thursday in the attack on their post in the center of the country at war, near the border with Burkina Faso. The assessment of this assault on the Dioungani station is still provisional, said the government, which also reported injuries, without specifying the number.
4,000 dead in 2019
The number of victims of violence has multiplied by five since 2016 in Mali, Burkina and Niger to reach around 4,000 dead in 2019 according to the UN. The conflict in the Sahel has left hundreds of thousands displaced.
The French general staff however indicated Thursday that the Barkhane force had put "out of combat" more than thirty jihadists in the center of Mali these last two weeks. Five others were killed Sunday in a drone strike near the Niger border.
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