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Fugitive Legionnaire captured
Update...AFP - A fugitive French foreign legionnaire who killed four people in Chad and triggered an international military manhunt, was captured Thursday by Chadian security forces, officials said. "The soldier was apprehended by Chadian gendarmes about 10 kilometres (six miles) out from Abeche as he was trying to get water from a well," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity. In Paris, a spokesman for the French army chief of staff's office confirmed the arrest and said French military authorities had identified him, but added that he was still being held in Chadian custody. "We confirm that he was arrested in the late morning by Chadian gendarmes in the Abeche region," said Lieutenant Colonel Francois-Marie Gougeon. "He was found exhausted a few kilometres east of Abeche and was given food and water." Helicopters and troops from European Union and United Nations peacekeeping missions, as well as local police, had been hunting the man since he killed two fellow legionnaires, of Ghanaian and Romanian origin. Before making his escape from the peacekeeping base he killed a Togolese soldier on UN duty, then a Chadian farmer, whose horse he stole. A French military source warned on Wednesday the man was "dangerous because he is armed and he has a psychological problem," adding that the soldier had been trained in survival techniques for hostile environments. The killings took place inside a military camp, and the runaway -- who is of French Guyanan origin -- took flight across semi-desert terrain between Abeche and Guereda in north-eastern Chad, towards the border with Sudan. Posted by: tu3031 2009-04-09 |
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