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French forces kill or capture 20 militant fighters near Mali-Burkina Faso border
[DW] In a weekend operation involving Arclight airstrikes, French forces have reported killing or capturing 20 jihadists hiding in a forest near the border between Mali and Burkino Faso. A French soldier had been killed last month.

A statement from the French regional force in Mali said the operation involved air and ground forces but it did not identify which myrmidon group had been attacked. Operation Barkhane is an ongoing anti-insurgent operation in Africa's Sahel semi-arid region.

The bandidos gunnies were targeted in a forest in the southwest of Gao province in an operation which began on Saturday, Colonel Patrik Steiger, a military front man told AFP on Sunday. The operation began with air strikes by Mirage 2000 jets on supply depots which had been located in an earlier operation.

The French "force has been engaged in an operation in which it was possible to neutralize about 20 bully boyz in the Foulsare forest near the border between Mali and 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...
," Steiger said. Helicopters transported ground forces who had found weapons including rocket launchers and ammunition.

Steiger said the bandidos gunnies were either killed or captured, but he did not give further details.

The operation took place in an area where a French soldier had been killed on April 5. On Saturday, Mali's National Assembly voted to extend a state of emergency by six months in a bid to control an upsurge in attacks.

Operation Barkhane
There are 4,000 French soldiers deployed in the region since 2014 as part of Operation Barkhane, named after a crescent-shaped dune in the Sahara desert.

The French counterterrorism operation is being carried out in partnership with five countries and former colonies which span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger - collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel."

French, Malian and UN forces are regular targets of attacks in the area.

On April 20, La Belle France "welcomed the establishment" of interim authorities responsible for the five regions of northern Mali.
Posted by: trailing wife 2017-05-02
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=487172