The Support Group to Islam and Muslims, affiliated with Al-Qaeda , claimed the attack which claimed the lives of three French soldiers of Operation Barkh donkey monday to Mali , in a statement released by its Al-Zallaqa propaganda platform. The GSIM (or Jnim according to the Arabic acronym), the main jihadist alliance of the Sahel , invokes the pursuit of French military presence in the region, the caricatures of Mohammed and the defense taken by the president Emmanuel Macron of their publication in the name of freedom of expression , as well as the policy of French government vis-à-vis Muslims in France.
“To end the French occupation of the Sahel region, your Mujahideen brothers carried out a qualitative operation against a convoy of French occupation forces on the road linking Gossi and Hombori, ”the group wrote in a statement released on Friday. “This blessed operation claimed the lives of three members of the occupation army’s elite forces. “
The GSIM did not provide details of the attack.
The three soldiers were killed in the border area with Niger and the Burkina Faso when their armored vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device while participating in an escort mission, according to the French presidency. A final tribute will be paid to them on Monday in Paris, announced Florence Parly, the Minister of the Armed Forces.
A final public tribute will be paid to the Field Marshal Tanerii Mauri, to Brigadiers Quentin Pauchet and Dorian Issakhanian on the Alexandre III bridge, Monday at 16 h 30. A last silent moment so that everyone can honor their memory and support their loved ones. https://t.co/4o0Ll5TTcF
– Florence Parly (@florence_parly) December 31 , 2020
Their death leads to 47 the number of French soldiers killed in the Sahel since 600 in the Serval then Barkhane operations. France has engaged in 2013 310 additional soldiers in the Sahel, bringing its numbers to around 5. 190. It is currently examining the evolution of this commitment.
The GSIM calls on the French to “put pressure on (their) leaders to withdraw from the land of Mali”. The statement was authenticated by the American center for monitoring jihadist sites SITE. At the end of November, the commander of Barkhane, Marc Conruyt, had designated before the French deputies the GSIM as the “most dangerous enemy” in the Sahel, where the Islamic State group is also present.
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