French Military Minister Florence Parly visited Bamako for a few hours on Monday 2 November. She met the new Malian authorities. The French minister announced that Paris is continuing with Bamako the fight against terrorism, a fight against terrorism that is recording results. In late October, about fifty jihadists were killed in the north, the French minister said.
At the conclusion of his meeting with the President of the Transition Bah N’Daw, the French Minister of Armed Forces gave details of the operation of the Barkhane Force, which recently killed about fifty jihadists in northern Mali in area known as the ” three limits “.
“I would like to reveal a major operation carried out on October 30 in Mali by the Barkhane force, which made it possible to neutralize more than 50 jihadists, equivalent to a katiba, by also confiscating equipment and carrying a a significant blow to an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group operating near the border with Burkina Faso. ”
Ansarul Islam
The French General Staff specified that the operation took place not far from the Malian municipality of Boulikessi on the night of 30 October. French intelligence has seen a katiba of Ansarul Islam, affiliated with GSIM from Tuareg Iyad Ag Ghali, emir of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. On the French side, the Saber task force, more specifically the special forces operating independently of the Barkhane force.
According to Army personnel, the terrorist group was preparing to attack a position in the region. The French soldiers say no more. Supported by Mirage 2000s from Niamey and at least one Reaper drone, the special forces stormed and engaged dozens of ground commands, and the fighting did not end until early in the morning.
Result: no damage on the French side, but on the other hand, 60 terrorists would have been neutralized, almost the size of a katiba. The terrorist group in Iyad Ag Ghali, which is demanding the withdrawal of French forces from Mali, has therefore suffered a very heavy defeat.
“Tactical success”
The French military minister believed that “this tactical success” once again showed “that terrorist groups cannot act with impunity against our forces”. With the new Malian authorities, the fight against terrorism will continue, she stressed. “Our willingness to continue our common fight against the jihadists who threaten us is quite complete. Fama also strikes blows against the enemy and these blows must be known. “
Florence Parly also indirectly raised the issue of “should we not negotiate with jihadist groups?”. “We can not have a dialogue with jihadist groups that have not given up on the terrorist attack,” she explained. “It is the responsibility of the Malian authorities, not ours, but it is important to exchange.”
Earlier today, the Minister traveled to Niger to meet with his counterpart Issoufou Katambé as well as President Mahamadou Issoufou. He mentioned a large-scale operation led by the G5 Sahel and the Barkhane force, this time targeting the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara for a month, which has mobilized 3,000 soldiers. The spokesman for the French staff added that an assessment of this operation will be presented in the coming days.
3,000 French, Nigerian and Malian soldiers, more than a third of whom are Nigerians, have carried out a major operation in the three border areas in recent weeks. They worked in a fully integrated manner, both on the ground and within the command chains, tracing armed groups up into their sanctuary areas.
Florence parly
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