Local officials in northern Mali accused the French military on Friday of killing six civilians in an airstrike, but French forces said they had hit extremist militants.
The incident, which occurred on Thursday in the remote region of Gao, is the second time this year that France’s operation Barkhane has been accused of killing civilians.
The operation involves more than 5,000 troops fighting militants in Mali and neighboring countries. Barkhane said the strike had “neutralized” a group of militants 60 kilometers north of Deliman.
“This strike was ordered after a phase of surveillance and identification that enabled the characterization of the presence of an armed terrorist group,” it said in a statement.
But Mohamed Assaleh Ahmad, mayor of the nearby village of Talataye, said the victims were six male civilians from Talataye between the ages of 15 and 20. He said they were out hunting birds and had a single rifle between them.
“I know all these young people. Some come from my family,” he told Reuters by telephone. “We’ve seen these airstrikes here before. We’ve never said anything, but this time it’s 100% wrong.”
Souleymane Ag Almahmoud, a former member of parliament from the area, also said the strike had killed six civilians.
Barkhane declined to comment beyond Thursday’s statement.
The United Nations is currently investigating an air strike on January 3 near the village of Bounti that local residents said struck a wedding party attended by civilians. The French military denies the allegations, saying the strike killed about 30 Islamist fighters.
Barkhane troops are stationed across West Africa’s semi-arid Sahel region, where militants linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh are increasingly rebelling against national armies.
France is looking for an exit strategy eight years after it first sent troops to intervene in Mali against militants, but President Emmanuel Macron last month ruled out an immediate reduction in troops in the region.
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