Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

A11
WORLD NEWS Wednesday 27 november 2019

13 French soldiers killed in

helicopter collision in Mali

By BABA AHMED and SYL-
VIE CORBET
Associated Press
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Two
helicopters collided on a
moonless night and killed
13 French soldiers fighting
Islamic State group-linked
This April 4, 2016 file photo shows Maltese investigative journal- extremists in Mali, France
ist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb in said Tuesday, mourning its
Malta on Oct. 16, 2017. highest military death toll in
Associated Press nearly four decades.
Top Maltese officials The deaths draw new at-
tention to a worrying front
in the global fight against
quit amid probe into extremism, one in which In this May 19, 2017 file photo, a French soldier stands inside a
military helicopter during a visit by French President Emmanuel
France and local countries
Macron to the troops of Operation Barkhane, France's largest
reporter's murder have pleaded for more overseas military operation, in Gao, northern Mali.
support. In a surge of vio-
Associated Press
lence this month, attackers
often linked to IS have killed begun. emy ... we cannot guaran-
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — was killed by a car bomb scores of troops in West Af- The French troops were tee, on another hand, the
There senior officials in in October 2017, Caruana rica's arid Sahel region and chasing fighters with the essential work of political
Maltese Prime Minister Jo- Galizia alleged in her blog ambushed a convoy of Islamic State in the Great- stabilization and economic
seph Muscat's government that a company called 17 employees of a Canadian er Sahara, affiliated to IS, development."
stepped down Tuesday in Black Ltd., listed in the Pan- mining company, leaving Army Chief of Staff Gen. A new surge in extremist at-
connection with a probe ama Papers, was connect- at least 38 dead. Francois Lecointre said. tacks in Mali has killed well
into the murder of investi- ed to Maltese politicians. French President Emmanu- France's operation in West over 100 local troops in the
gative journalist Daphne The company belonged to el Macron expressed "deep and Central Africa is its past two months, with IS of-
Caruana Galizia. Fenech, the businessman. sadness" after the Mon- largest overseas military ten claiming responsibility.
Press reports have linked Fenech was arrested a day evening crash. It was mission and involves 4,500 The extremists loot military
Tourism Minister Konrad day after Muscat revealed France's highest military toll personnel. France inter- posts and profit from min-
Mizzi, Economy Minister that an unidentified man since 1983, when 58 para- vened in Mali in 2013 after ing operations while finding
Chris Cardona and Mus- offered to provide details troopers were killed in a extremists seized control of refuge in forested border
cat's chief of staff Keith about the murder if he was truck bombing in Lebanon. major towns in the north areas. Hundreds of thou-
Schembri to the Caruana given immunity of all crimes The military said the heli- and implemented a harsh sands of civilians have fled
Galizia investigation. he committed. The immu- copters were flying very version of Islamic law. They their homes.
All three deny any wrong- nity was given on Monday low when they collided were forced back into the Before his death this year,
doing. Their resignations on condition that his evi- and crashed in Mali's Lipta- desert, where they have re- IS leader Abu Bakr al-Bagh-
follow the arrest last week dence is corroborated in a ko region near Niger while grouped and moved south dadi congratulated "broth-
of Maltese hotelier and court of law. supporting French com- into more populated areas. ers" in Mali and neighbor-
power company director Economy Minister Cardona mandos on the ground pur- Since 2013, at least 44 ing Burkina Faso for pledg-
Yorgen Fenech in relation said Tuesday he was step- suing a group of extremists. French soldiers have died ing allegiance.
with the case. ping down pending the in- No one on board survived. in the mission that has cre- Public outrage in Mali also
In her blog, Caruana Gal- vestigation and the ongo- French defense minister ated little public debate in has been directed in recent
izia wrote boldly about cor- ing proceedings related to Florence Parly said the he- France. weeks against France, the
ruption and investigated Caruana Galizia's case. He licopters were operating "in French lawmakers ob- country's former colonizer,
the affairs of Maltese politi- was summoned by police the total darkness, which served a minute of silence over the failure to stop the
cians and business figures, for questioning last Satur- made the operation much on Tuesday. Prime Minister violence that also has led
as well as those doing busi- day. Prime Minister Muscat more complicated." The Edouard Philippe defend- to deadly clashes between
ness with the European himself announced the res- helicopters' flight data re- ed military operations in the wary communities amid
Union member. ignation of his chief of staff corders have been found Sahel, saying that "without suspicions of supporting the
Eight months before she Schembri.q and an investigation has the ability to face the en- extremists.q