A Gazelle helicopter from Barkhane hit. Three wounded repatriated to France (V4)
(B2) A French Gazelle-type helicopter from the Barkhane force deployed in support of ground troops was forced into an emergency landing on Friday (June 14) in the south of Mali's Liptako, near Niger, confirmed on Monday (June 17) the general staff. A very intense action carried out by the French soldiers against a group of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahel (EIGS)
Operation Aconi
The operation called 'Aconit' had started on Thursday (June 13), with the aim of dealing "a significant blow to the armed terrorist groups (GAT) in their refuge zone of Malian and Nigerian Liptako". Action taken " in liaison with the Malian armed forces (FAMa) and in coordination with the Nigerien army which was on the other side of the border, to the south. These are " information collected by the Nigeriens who apparently made it possible to identify the " terrorist armed group belonging to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahel (EIGS).
Terrorist group ambushing Nigerien forces
An operation carried out in response to the ambush carried out against our comrades in the Niger Armed Forces on May 14 near the village of Balle-Berri in the Tillabéri region of Niger near the Malian border says Colonel Nicolas de Chilly, commanding officer of the 4th Alpine Chasseurs Regiment (4th RCh) in Gap, which currently forms the backbone of the Desert Tactical Group 2 (GTD-2) “Edelweiss” deployed in Mali. " It became imperative to significantly reduce their combat potential »
Helicopter commandos, helicopters, drone, Mirage
At the end of the evening, the helicopter-borne commandos of Barkhane, supported by a patrol of Tiger helicopters and a Reaper drone, " engaged in a wooded area in the Azabara region, in order to directly confront the terrorist group that had been spotted there ". The next day, Mirage 2000 aircraft came in support with " a sequence of strikes on the positions where the enemy had entrenched “, then an armored sub-group as well as the Malian soldiers of the FAMa deployed.
More than twenty 'neutralized' terrorists and equipment know
The result is telling according to the French. " More than twenty terrorists [have been] neutralized in total (wounded or killed). And " among them, probably leaders of groups. This strikes an all the more severe blow to the adversary. It will surely take time to recover, to reorganize. " The excavations of the area carried out by the French and Malian soldiers (FAMa) made it possible to seize " a lot of material ": ammunition, weapons, more than twenty motorcycles, means of observation, " and also sensitive material, such as telephones and USB keys. So many clues collected on the ground that will speak and tell us more about the groups that we had in front of us says Colonel de Chilly. Several 'adversaries' were treated by French medical teams.
One helicopter hit, three injured
During the operation, a French Gazelle helicopter was hit by fire. The landing was brutal. The three injured crew members were evacuated to the Gao medical unit and repatriated to France. as a precaution ". " Their days are not in danger “says the press release from the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The helicopter was reportedly hit by gunfire. A French armored sub-group of the Barkhane force secured the landing zone allowing the evacuation of the wounded. The remnant of terrorists present in the sector have been put out of action ».
An operation of search and rescue most daring
According to our colleague from International Radio France Olivier Fourt, these are " 7.62 caliber Kalashnikov-PKM machine gun fire "which caused" a fire followed by a loss of engine power, forcing the crew to perform a forced landing ". The Tiger helicopter which landed in a rescue operation could not take the wounded on board, the cell being too cramped. But the situation imposes an exceptional means: the two most seriously injured soldiers are strapped to the outside of the aircraft near the landing gear and evacuated to a safer place. The third crewman, blew up » the Gazelle helicopter and then joins « another device arrived on the spot.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Read also: Back in pictures on the key action of alpine hunters in the Malian and Nigerian Liptako
Updated on 25.6 with the elements of RFI, 27.6 with the elements transcribed by the Dicod of Colonel de Chilly (source DICOD) and restructured with the intertitles for more readability, and 29.6 details on the wounded
