Saturday, June 26th 2021
Suicide attack in Mali
Injured German soldiers on the return flight
In an attack in Mali, twelve German UN soldiers are also injured, three of them seriously. An Air Force machine is now bringing the first victims back to Germany. In Koblenz, the blue helmets are to be treated further.
The first of the twelve Bundeswehr soldiers who were injured in a suicide attack in Mali, West Africa, are on their way back to Germany. According to information from the dpa, the evacuation flight started in Gao in the morning. The plane is expected at Cologne Airport in the afternoon. A second Airbus has now started from there to bring the other injured soldiers back from Mali.
The blue helmet soldiers are to be brought from Cologne to the Bundeswehr Central Hospital in Koblenz. According to the information, the three seriously injured soldiers and those who have to be transported lying down are on board the A400M machine. According to the Bundeswehr operations command, the third seriously injured soldier is now in a stable condition. The man had been operated on, it was said.
According to dpa information, the second Airbus flies to Niamey, the capital of Niger. The Bundeswehr operates an air force transport base there, including supplying the wounded for use in Mali. This machine is supposed to fly the other wounded to Stuttgart. From there they should come to the Bundeswehr hospital in Ulm for further medical treatment.
Around 180 kilometers northeast of Gao, twelve German soldiers were injured in a suicide attack on Friday, three of them seriously. The soldiers were part of a contingent of the Minusma blue helmet operation. Germany participates in training and stabilization missions of the EU and the UN in Mali with up to 1,700 Bundeswehr soldiers.
The political situation in Mali has been characterized by increasing instability since 2012. Most of the Islamist-motivated violence has also reached neighboring countries in the Sahel zone in recent years. Thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed in the crisis region, and hundreds of thousands had to flee their homes.
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