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Africa Horn
Somali government regrets civilian deaths in botched French operation
2013-01-15
The Somali government on Sunday (January 13th) expressed dissatisfaction over a failed French military operation against al-Shabaab in Bulomarer in which eight civilians died, the Somali National News Agency reported.

"This was a shocking incident by French military, unfortunately civilians lost their lives," Foreign Minister Fowsiyo Yusuf Haji Aadan said after an emergency government meeting, adding that the Somali government has in the past been able to secure the release of hostages through dialogue.

Eight civilians and 17 al-Shabaab militants reportedly died in the operation, which was an attempt to rescue French intelligence agent Denis Allex who has been held hostage by al-Shabaab since 2009.

Posted by:tipper

#3  Anything that kills a 'civilian' or loses a friendly is a botch, though I can accept a kill ratio of 30 to 1.
Posted by: Glenmore   2013-01-15 19:23  

#2  Eight civilian terrorist facilitators and 17 al-Shabaab militants reportedly died in the operation

"Botched" my aching arss !
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-01-15 14:17  

#1  No accurate source of info yet.

Apparently the French team approached the site by land after being dropped off by helicopter. Their presence was compromised by locals living near the target compound. Some of those locals may have tried to warn the mujahideen inside the compound - causing the French to have to silence the civilians. Somewhere between 3-8 locals were killed, but the exact number is not clear.

It's hard to know what the "Soamli Gov't" is complaining about - the French hostage who was the primary goal of this mission has been held for 3-1/2 years by Al Shabaab. He is being used as a pawn and his captors are not serious about negotiations. So they have to assume that hard consequences are going to happen sooner or later.
Posted by: Raider   2013-01-15 14:11  

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