Burkinabé soldiers train in Senegal (Drawing). – Cheikh AT Sy / AP / SIPA
The Support Group for Islam and Muslims, a jihadist alliance affiliated with Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack which claimed the lives of two French soldiers Saturday at Mali , in a statement released by its Al-Zallaqa propaganda platform. The GSIM (or Jnim according to the Arabic acronym) confirms having “detonated an explosive device” when the vehicle of two soldiers of the Barkhane anti-jihadist force passed, including a woman, “bringing the total death toll to 5 dead in less than one week ”, according to this press release.
Sergeant Yvonne Huynh and Brigadier Loïc Risser,
both from the 2nd Hussar Regiment of Haguenau , near Strasbourg were killed in the Ménaka region (north-east). Five days earlier, three other French soldiers had been killed in the border area with Niger and Burkina Faso during an escort mission.
The “most dangerous enemy”
In total , 50 French soldiers have been killed in the Sahel since 600 in the Serval then Barkhane operations. The GSIM, on the other hand, claims its innocence in the attack on two villages in western Niger near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, which did 50 dead Saturday, the deadliest committed by jihadists against civilians in the Sahel.
“This attack, whatever be the perpetrators, is no different from the massacres of the French occupier and its criminal militias “, considers the GSIM, which claims that its” jihad “(holy war) is not turned against its people and promises reprisals short or long term.
An implicit allusion to its great rival in the region, the Islamic State group in the greater Sahara (EIGS), against which the fighting has been very violent in the area for several months. In 2020, France engaged 310 additional soldiers in the Sahel, bringing its workforce at about 5. 50. It is currently examining the evolution of this commitment.
At the end of November, the commander of Barkhane, Marc Conruyt, had indicated before the French deputies the GSIM as the “most dangerous enemy” in the Sahel. A year earlier, EIGS had been designated as enemy number one in the region. The press release was authenticated by the American center for the monitoring of jihadist sites SITE.