A legionnaire of the French force Barkhane injured on April 23 in Mali during an operation against jihadists died of his injuries Friday at the Clamart military hospital near Paris, announced on Saturday the presidency of the French Republic. Brigadier Dmytro Martynyouk was injured by the explosion of an improvised explosive device, said President Emmanuel Macron in a statement, welcoming "the courage of the French soldiers engaged in the Sahel".
In a separate statement, the military staff specified that on April 23, "a Barkhane force tanker" had been hit by an improvised explosive device in the Liptako - in the particularly unstable area known as " three borders "(Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso) - injuring" the driver and the chief of the vehicle ".
42 French soldiers killed in the Sahel
The two soldiers were evacuated to France on April 24 for medical treatment. Brigadier Dmytro Martynyouk died on May 1 at the Percy military hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), while "his comrade's condition is stable, and his life prognosis is not at risk", according to the staff. This death brings to 42 the number of French soldiers killed in the Sahel since the start of the French intervention in 2013, with Operation Serval, according to a count made from figures published by the general staff.
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Born in Volotchysk in Ukraine, brigadier Dmytro Martynyouk, who was 29 years old, spent his entire career in the 1st foreign regiment of cavalry of Carpiagne south of Marseille, said the Army. He joined the Foreign Legion in September 2015 where he successively served as a pilot, shell loader and shooter on an armored vehicle. After a mission in Djibouti in 2017, he had been deployed as chief of a light armored vehicle in Mali where he also served as a truck driver. He was single and childless.
Barkhane staff increase
In recent weeks, the French army has multiplied the offensives in this region of the Sahel, claiming the "neutralization" of several dozen jihadists there since the beginning of the year. Barkhane's workforce has recently increased from 4,500 to 5,100 soldiers. Paris hopes that this reinforcement will make it possible to reverse the balance of forces on the ground, where jihadist groups have multiplied the attacks in recent months.
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Emmanuel Macron "praised the determination (of the French soldiers) to continue their mission which allows to strike severe blows at the enemy, alongside their Sahelian brothers in arms. The Minister for the Armed Forces Florence Parly bowed" before the commitment (of Brigadier Martynyouk) which embodies the strength of the Foreign Legion "." France is grateful to those who chose it, to those who give their lives for it ", she underlined in a communicated.
Jihadist violence - often entangled in inter-community conflicts -, killed 4,000 in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in 2019, five times more than in 2016, according to the UN, despite the presence of African, UN and international.