Posted on 06/06/2020 5:38:49 PM PDT by BeauBo
France said on Friday its military forces had killed al Qaeda's North Africa chief Abdelmalek Droukdel, a key Islamist fighter that its forces had been hunting for more than seven years, during an operation in Mali.
"On June 3, French army forces, with the support of their local partners, killed the emir of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Abdelmalek Droukdel, and several of his closest collaborators, during an operation in northern Mali," French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly wrote on Twitter.
The announcement of the death of Droukdel comes almost six months after former colonial power France and regional states combined their military forces under one command structure to focus on fighting Islamic State-linked militants in the border regions of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Droukdel was among North Africa's most experienced militants. He took part in an Islamist militant takeover of northern Mali before a French military intervention in 2013 drove them back and scattered fighters across the Sahel region...
Parly said that French forces, which number about 5,100 in the region, had also on May 19 captured Mohamed el Mrabat, a fighter she identified as a veteran militant in the region and member of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
"Our forces, in cooperation with their local partners... will continue to track these (people) down without respite," Parly said...
Parly said earlier this week that about 100 special forces from other European countries would be deployed to the region to support French and regional troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
Vive la Compagnie!
Good news
Dems will mourn his death.
We chuckle at the French, but their military is about twice the size of the Brits - they are the largest military on the continent.
Good news! Bon fait!
isn’t this racist?
Nice that someone else is helping out.
Cool, I guess. But seems like the Islamic terrorists could take a break. America is destroying itself.
Thanks for trying Mohammed, but we’ve got this!!
Vive la France!
“their (the French) military is about twice the size of the Brits - they are the largest military on the continent.”
They seriously take some scalps in their former colonies, when things get out of hand.
Foreign Legionnaires have a well deserved reputation for getting the job done.
They pulled a lot of triggers, dropped a lot of bombs, and pulled a lot of lanyards on ISIS in Syria as well.
This was probably the French Foreign Legion as opposed to the actual French Army who conducted the raid.
“We chuckle at the French, but their military is about twice the size of the Brits - they are the largest military on the continent.”
As they were in 1940. How did that work out?
yes, but, when did France get an army?
Now send them after Soros
IMO, one should not confuse the willingness and abilities of
French soldiers with the incompetence of the French command structure. French soldiers did their duty against the Germans in 1940. The failure rested with the French High Command.
But tell that to the men who fought at Verdun in 1916.
Today was a good day. Hoy es in dia muy bueno. I can only do Spanish google translate says this in French as “aujourd’hui est un bon jour.”
Guess the French military are only allowed to kill terrorists overseas, but, hey, when they do, they do a great job of it.
This kill is a major defeat for ISIS and affiliated Islamic terrorist groups in Mali, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria and elsewhere.
Tres bien, mon amis!
Good!
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