[ad_1]
The French force Barkhane near the Malian town of Gossi is conducting anti-jihadist operations in the region. By Daphne BENOIT (AFP)
A French military doctor was killed in Mali when his armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device during an operation against "armed terrorist groups," the French Presidency and the army said Tuesday.
For a year and a half, the French army has been conducting military operations against jihadists in northeastern Mali and in the border area of neighboring Burkina Faso.
Captain Marc Laycuras, who belonged to a medical unit in Le Mans in western France, died in the Gourma region near the border with Burkina Faso, AFP told AFP. word of the army, Patrik Steiger.
He added that Laycuras and another wounded soldier "were immediately driven by helicopter" to a hospital near Gossi, about 150 kilometers west of Gao, where the French Barkhane force is based.
The doctor was seriously injured and died as a result of his injuries, Steiger added, adding that the other soldier was not in serious condition.
"No enemy or any particular presence was detected in the area at the time of the explosion," he said.
The doctor was the 24th member of the French army to die in Mali since the intervention of France in 2013 and repulsed the jihadist groups that had taken control of the north of the country.
In a statement, President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "very great sadness" at the announcement of the doctor's death.
Macron also reiterated the "total support of France to Mali and the UN forces in the implementation of the peace agreement" concluded in 2015 with some armed groups.
But jihadist raids remain a persistent threat, and the Gourma region is reputed to serve as a sanctuary for several armed groups based in the forests and along the Burkinabe border.
In central Mali, an ethnic mosaic, the attacks have had a bloody impact on groups with a history of rivalry.
Last month, 160 people were mbadacred in the village of Ogossagou, victims of Fulani herders, who were killed by suspected militia of the rival Dogon ethnic group.
The violence persists despite the presence of a strong French military contingent, United Nations peacekeepers and the creation of a military force composed of five countries in the Sahel region.
[ad_2]
Source link
