FRENCH FORCES were involved in a raid that ended in the deaths of six alleged Islamist militants in the deserts of northern Mali on Thursday, the defence ministry in Paris confirmed yesterday.
The assault targeted a militant group calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is believed to be holding Michel Germaneau, a 78-year-old French engineer who was kidnapped in April in Niger. The French government declined to confirm Spanish media reports that an attempt to free Mr Germaneau had failed.
Paris said it provided “technical and logistical support” to a Mauritanian operation designed to thwart an attack on Mauritania by the militant group: “The group of terrorists targeted by the Mauritanian operation was the one that killed a British hostage a year ago and which has refused to give ‘proof of life’ and enter talks on freeing our compatriot Michel Germaneau.”
London refused to yield to the kidnappers’ demand to free a jailed Muslim cleric.
Neither the French nor Mauritanian authorities confirmed the location of the assault, but Malian officials said a military operation involving unidentified aircraft took place in the north African country this week.
Spain's El Paísnewspaper quoted diplomatic sources as saying French special forces had staged an early-morning attack aimed at freeing Mr Germaneau, killing six militants but finding no sign of the hostage or of the base where he was believed to be held. El Paíssaid French forces located the base with US help. AQIM wants to secure the release of its members from jails in the region and said the French hostage would be killed if its demands were not met by July 27th.
According to El País, the Spanish government had been informed about Thursday's raid at the last minute but was not consulted about the operation, and was annoyed because the raid could increase the risk to the lives of two Spanish hostages held for the last eight months by AQIM. The two Spaniards are thought to have been kidnapped by a different group.