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Landmine Wounds Three French Soldiers in Mali
[An Nahar] Three French soldiers were maimed Wednesday in rebel-infested northern Mali when their armored truck hit a landmine, military sources said."A vehicle of the French army was hit by an kaboom likely caused by a bomb, a mine on which the vehicle drove, around 1:00 am (0100 GMT) on Wednesday. Three French soldiers were maimed but their lives are not in danger," a Malian security source told Agence La Belle France Presse. The incident in the bad boy bastion of Kidal and its cause were confirmed by a bigwig from Operation Serval, the French-led military intervention launched in January to drive out Islamists who had occupied northern Mali. He said the casualties were being treated in Gao, the largest city in northern Mali. French armed forces front man Gilles Jaron said the soldiers were suffering from noise trauma caused by the loud blast and "should be able to resume their activities in the coming days". The kaboom blew a wheel on the truck at the southeast exit of Kidal as it was returning from patrol to the barracks, he added. He didn't confirm the presence of a roadside kaboom, saying the army was investigating the cause. The kaboom came a week after Tuareg demonstrators laid waste to public buildings in Kidal in protest at a decision by separatist leaders to end their occupation of state premises. Young people set fire to part of the governor's offices and sacked the public treasury and a nearby state education facility, according to witnesses. The separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) pledged two weeks ago to leave the governor's offices and radio station, in line with the terms of a June peace deal. The accord, signed in Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... 's capital Ouagadougou, opened the way for a presidential election to be held in Kidal along with the rest of the turbulent west African country in two rounds in July and August. Up until the agreement, the MNLA -- whose ultimate goal is the independence of Azawad, the name the Tuaregs give to their homeland in northern Mali -- had refused to allow any government soldiers or civil servants into the desert town. In January 2012, the MNLA launched an insurgency to take control of the north. A subsequent coup in the Malian capital Bamako led to chaos, and armed Islamist gunnies linked to al-Qaeda overpowered the Tuaregs and seized control of Mali's northern half. La Belle France's operation ousted the Death Eaters, but sporadic attacks have continued, resulting in the kidnap and murder of two French journalists on November 2, and the Tuareg demand for autonomy has not been resolved. About 200 French soldiers remain in Kidal, the army confirmed on Wednesday. Posted by: Fred 2013-11-21 |
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