PARIS: Thirteen French soldiers were killed in Mali when two helicopters collided during an operation against insurgents in the country’s restive north, officials said on Tuesday, the heaviest single loss for the French military in nearly four decades.
The accident occurred late on Monday while the helicopters were reinforcing ground troops pursuing the insurgents in the Liptako region, near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, the defence ministry said.
It brought to 41 the number of French troops killed in the region since they were first sent to Mali in 2013 and again highlighted the challenge for France of operating in a dangerous area the size of Western Europe.
A Tiger attack helicopter collided with a Cougar military transport helicopter while engaging the insurgents fleeing on motorbikes and in pick-up trucks. Both aircraft crashed not far from each other, killing all on board, the ministry said.
One of the victims was the son of French Senator Jean-Marie Bockel, a centrist and former government minister who sits on the senate’s armed forces committee, the father confirmed to this agency.
“These 13 heroes had just one goal: To protect us. I bow my head in front of the pain of their families and comrades,” President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter.
Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said the soldiers had died for Mali and all Sahel countries, as well as for France.
“The loss is heavy but the peoples of the Sahel share your bereavement,” he said in a letter to Macron.
Macron promised new measures “in the coming weeks” to bolster the fight against the insurgency in the Sahel, after receiving the presidents of Mali, Chad and Niger at the Elysee Palace. — AFP
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