By SudOuest.fr with AFP
Brigadier Alexandre Martin, 24, was killed in a mortar attack on Gao camp in northern Mali on Saturday
A French soldier was killed in a mortar attack on Saturday against the Gao camp in northern Mali, in a context of extreme tension between Paris and Bamako amid the deployment of Russian mercenaries in this Sahel country.
President Emmanuel Macron, Chief of the Armed Forces, expressed his “very strong emotion” when he announced on Sunday the death of Brigadier Alexandre Martin, of the 54th artillery regiment of Hyères (south of France). This is the 53rd French soldier killed in combat in the Sahel since 2013 and the first in 2022. Three were killed last year, a fourth soldier having died accidentally.
Involved in the Army since 2015
Alexandre Martin, 24, was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime. He had been engaged since September 2015 in the Army. After missions in Guyana, Martinique and Djibouti, he participated since October 19 in Operation Barkhane. He was “cohabiting and childless,” said the Army. He was awarded the National Defense Silver Medal on January 1, 2021.
The French anti-jihadist force Barkhane covers five countries in the Sahel. From around 5,000 men in the summer of 2021, it should be reduced to between 3,500 and 4,000 soldiers next summer as part of a reorganization of its missions.
The Gao camp was the target shortly before 5:00 p.m. Paris time of “several indirect fire” from mortar shells, from a position located at a distance of “five to six kilometers to the northeast”, said the spokesman for the General Staff, Colonel Pascal Ianni. Brigadier Martin, seriously injured, “was taken care of immediately by the surgical unit on site but succumbed to his injuries”, he said.
Nine other French soldiers were “slightly injured” but “their condition does not inspire any concern”, specified the general staff of the Armies in a press release.
“Death for France”
The French army “immediately engaged search and attack helicopters to intercept and neutralize the attackers”, continued Colonel Ianni. One or more assailants were killed, he suggested, without further details. The attack could not immediately be attributed. It occurred, however, in an area frequented by jihadists from GSIM (or JNIM, a jihadist nebula affiliated with Al-Qaeda).
The Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, “bows with deep respect to the memory of Brigadier Martin, who died for France”, announced the ministry in a press release. The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Thierry Burkhard, saluted the memory of the brigadier. “His thoughts are with his family and his brothers in arms, especially those injured during this operation, and all their loved ones,” the general staff said.
Four French soldiers were already injured on Tuesday in Burkina Faso when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded as their vehicle passed. The death of the brigadier comes as the execrable relations between the junta in power in Bamako and Paris raise the question of the maintenance of a French and European presence in Mali.