DN - Defence Notes
Helicopter collision in Mali kills 13 French soldiers
Thirteen soldiers from France's Barkhane force in Mali were killed when two helicopters collided during an operation against jihadists in the country's north, the Elysee Palace said on 26 November.
The accident occurred on the evening of 25 November while the forces were engaging the fighters who have staged a series of strikes in northern Mali in recent weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron's office said.
‘The president hails with the greatest respect the memory of these soldiers... who lost their lives in an operation and died for France in the hard fight against terrorism in the Sahel,’ it added in a statement.
Six officers and a master corporal were among the victims in the deadliest accident since France intervened in Mali in 2013 to drive back an intense Islamic insurgency. The accident brings to 41 the number of French soldiers killed in Mali since the intervention began.
France has around 4,500 troops in the country as part of its Barkhane operation, which is primarily tasked with building up and training local security forces but also participates in operations against the insurgents.
An inquiry has been opened into the cause of the mid-air collision, Defence Minister Florence Parly said in a separate statement.
Defence ministry sources said a Tiger attack helicopter collided with a larger Cougar military transport helicopter.
It was the heaviest loss for the French army since the 1983 attack on the Drakkar building in Beirut, in which 58 paratroopers were killed.
Mali has sustained a wave of insurgency strikes on army outposts and other targets, with more than 50 killed over just a few days in early November.
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita warned after the strikes that the country's stability was at stake, urging people to rally around the country's besieged armed forces.
It is one of the countries in the Sahel region of Africa that has been caught in the eye of the jihadist storm since 2012, along with Niger, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
More from Defence Notes
-
Singapore to set up permanent fighter detachment in Guam
The governments of Singapore and the US signed an MoU on 7 December that will see the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) set up ...
-
Malaysia publishes its first White Paper
Malaysia’s parliament passed the country’s first ever Defence White Paper on 2 December to guide defence planning and development from 2020-30. Amidst opposition criticism on ...
-
Podcast: I/ITSEC 2019 highlights, the V-22 Osprey topping the 500,000 flight hour milestone and more
Welcome to Episode 46 of The Weekly Defence Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. Sign up to an early email alert of future podcasts here.
-
Baltic nations advance BALTNET
The Lithuanian Ministry of Defence confirmed on 3 December that the scheduled re-structure of the Baltic Air Surveillance Network or BALTNET will see the activation ...
-
Power conversion: the value of customisation (free whitepaper)
Are the benefits of a power conversion solution which truly fulfills the application requirements found in a tailored solution? This white paper reviews the challenges ...
-
I/ITSEC 2019: Space defined as key frontier in future Great Power conflict
If a theme could be drawn across the range of exhibitions and conferences that have taken place in the US in 2019, it is a ...