In a military operation by the Malian state forces with the help of French military forces, Islamist fighters were pushed out of the central city of Kona, an official of that country said today. Lt. Col. Diaran Kone said last night that the army is in control of the city, but that they are still looking for possible remnants of extremist forces.
For days, the army in central Mali has been fighting armed Islamist groups that have taken over the north and are trying to advance south.
Islamists seized Kona on Thursday and are closing in on one of the country's main military bases in central Mali.
A state of emergency was declared yesterday in Mali, where the army is currently on the offensive against Islamist armed groups. The army launched a counter-offensive yesterday, with the help of France and other European and African countries.
French President Francois Hollande announced yesterday the sending of French forces to Mali, in support of the army there in the fight against armed Islamist groups, which are linked to Al Qaeda.
Hollande said "terrorist groups, drug dealers and extremists" in northern Mali were showing "brutality that threatens us all" and promised that the military operation and French aid would last "as long as necessary".
The French armed forces are helping the Malian military to fight against terrorist elements, Hollande said yesterday in Paris. France said it was taking action in Mali at the request of Dioncunda Traore, the president of that country (a former French colony), who is concerned about the advance of extremists.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said today that a French military pilot was killed in Mali, during a helicopter attack on a convoy of terrorists who were moving towards two cities in the south of that country in northwest Africa.
French forces carried out an attack yesterday afternoon to support the Malian army, the minister said, adding that "several terrorist units were destroyed and their advance stopped." "In those intense fights, one of our pilots was mortally wounded," he added. The French minister said the pilot was wounded by small arms, not heavy artillery, and succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Le Drian said France had to act quickly to stop the Islamist offensive, which he said would allow a "terrorist state on the doorstep of France and Europe" to form.
A Malian army official said yesterday at a press conference in Bamako, the country's capital, that troops from France, Nigeria and Senegal have already been deployed alongside the Malian army.
French soldiers are also engaged in Somalia, where they attacked an Islamist base early this morning in an attempt to rescue a French hostage, who they feared would be killed in retaliation for the participation of French forces in the fight against Islamists in Mali.
The French Ministry of Defense announced today that the French hostage in Somalia was most likely killed in the end.
The United States is considering helping France in its military engagement in Mali to fight radical Islamists, providing mostly logistical support, sharing intelligence and providing reconnaissance drones, an unnamed US official said yesterday.
France states that the hostage was killed, the Islamists claim that he is alive
French commandos failed to free a French hostage in Somalia who was most likely killed by his jailers, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said today in Paris. The French Ministry of Defense stated in a statement that two French soldiers and 17 "terrorists" were killed in the operation for his release carried out last night.
The action was carried out by the French secret service (DGSE). Frenchman Denis Allex, also a member of the French secret service, was in the hands of Islamists in Somalia since July 14, 2009.
The secret service commandos encountered strong resistance and fierce fighting ensued during the attack, the ministry said. The ministry reminded that Alex was kidnapped in Mogadishu during an official mission to help the transitional government of Somalia.
It added that due to the intransigence of the terrorists who refused all negotiations for three and a half years and kept Alex in inhumane conditions, an action was planned and carried out to try to rescue him.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held a press conference this morning in Paris, a day after French President Francois Hollande approved French military intervention in Mali to help the northwest African country's military in the fight against Islamists.
However, the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab stated in its statement forwarded to Agence France-Presse that the French hostage is still alive after last night's failed operation by French commandos to free him, but that he will be tried "in the next two days". They also claim to have captured one French soldier wounded in that operation, and that French commandos have captured and taken away "several" of their comrades, killed or wounded in the fighting.
"The wounded French soldier is under the guard of the Mujahideen, and Alex is still safe and far from the battle site," the Islamists said in a statement.
They added that the mujahideen of al-Shabaab are warning France that they will suffer "bitter consequences" for this military operation which tried in vain to free the hostage they have been holding for more than three years.
A military intervention against the Islamists in northern Mali will threaten the safety of French citizens, the representative of the Islamist group Ansar Dine warned today.
"There will be consequences not only for the French hostages but also for French citizens wherever they are in the Muslim world," Sanda Ould Boumama told Reuters. "We will continue to defend ourselves and resist. We are ready to die fighting," he added.
The Islamist group Ansar Dine, based in Timbuktu, is close to the North African wing of Al Qaeda, which is fighting the Malian government and French forces.
France still has eight hostages captured in sub-Saharan African countries.
The French defense minister said that the military intervention in Mali and the night operation of commandos of the French secret service in Somalia, in which the French hostage was killed, have nothing to do with each other.
"These are two operations that are completely unrelated. The one in Somalia could have happened earlier, it was even planned for earlier, but it was hindered by geographical, technical and meteorological conditions. Therefore, there is no connection, especially before the French intervention in Mali , as you know, was not planned in advance," said the French defense minister.
Russia: Operations in Mali should be led by the UN or the African Union
Russia's representative for Africa, Mikhail Margelov, said today that the United Nations or the African Union should lead operations against Islamist rebels in Mali, after France sent its military forces to help the authorities there.
"I believe that every military operation in Africa can and should be under the flags of the UN and the African Union," said a member of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament. Margelov told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that "no one but Africans can and should solve the problems on that continent." France this week sent its forces to help Malian authorities counter an offensive by Islamist fighters.
The member countries of the Economic Community of West African Countries (EKOWAS) approved earlier today the sending of their soldiers to Mali, but it is not specified how many soldiers will be sent and from which countries, nor how long they will stay there.
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