2019 Ménaka mid-air collision

Last updated
2019 Ménaka mid-air collision
Collision
Date25 November 2019 (2019-11-25)
SummaryMid-air collision
Sitenear Ménaka, Ménaka Region, Northern Mali
Total fatalities13
Total survivors0
First aircraft
Aerospatiale SA 330B Puma, France - Army JP7168956.jpg
Type Eurocopter AS532 Cougar
Operator French Armed Forces
Crew11
Fatalities11
Survivors0
Second aircraft
Eurocopter LE TIGRE - Flickr - besopha.jpg
A Eurocopter Tiger similar to the one involved.
Type Eurocopter Tiger
Crew2
Fatalities2
Survivors0

On 25 November 2019, two French military helicopters, part of Operation Barkhane, crashed in northern Mali, killing 13 soldiers. It was the deadliest incident involving the French military since the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings.

Contents

Background

In November 2019, the city of Indelimane and its surroundings, located between Ansongo and Ménaka, were the scene of numerous clashes. The region was then one of the Islamic State's areas of action in the Sahara. [1] On November 1, at least 49 Malian soldiers were killed in a jihadistic attack on the military base in the city. On November 2, an LAV escorting a convoy between Gao and Ménaka ran into an improvised explosive device 20 kilometers from Indelimane: a French soldier was killed. [2] [3] On November 16, about 20 kilometers south of Indelimane, GCP commandos carried out an attack on a camp: five Islamic State jihadists were killed and a French commando was seriously injured during the fighting. [4] [5]

Incident

On November 22, 2019, the French army launched a large-scale operation in the Eranga Valley, located about twenty kilometers south of Indelimane.

On November 25, late in the day, French forces launched an attack in the Liptako Gourma region against jihadists traveling in pick-ups and motorcycles. Around 5 p.m., GCP soldiers clashed with the jihadists. As night fell, they requested air support to cross the Wadi. Two Tiger helicopters and a Cougar, as well as a patrol of two Mirage 2000s, were mobilized. At around 7:40 p.m., while the helicopters were carrying out a maneuver intended to prepare for the enemy engagement, one of the two Tigers and the Cougar accidentally collided. The crash left no survivors. Thirteen French soldiers, including seven from the 5th Combat Helicopter Regiment (5° RHC), and six operators from the Groupement de commandos de Montagne, were killed. [6] [7] [8] [9]

On November 28, the Islamic State in West Africa claimed to have provoked the crash that had occurred three days earlier: "the soldiers of the caliphate fired in the direction of the helicopter, forcing it to retreat and eventually colliding with another helicopter, resulting in the death of thirteen soldiers." [10] [11] [12] The next day, General François Lecointre, the Armed Forces' chief of staff, denied that jihadist fire had caused the collision: "This is absolutely incorrect. [...] There was no attack by the jihadists, [who were] being chased and marked in a certain way on the ground. And so there was no withdrawal of a plane in the face of jihadist fire." [12] [13] [14]

Casualties

Six officers and a master corporal were among the 13 fatalities. One of those killed, Pierre-Emmanuel Bockel, was the son of French Senator Jean-Marie Bockel. [15] Bockel was the pilot of the 'Cougar' helicopter. [16]

On December 2, France gave them a national tribune in the courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides. President Emmanuel Macron presented them with the posthumous Legion of Honor. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Barkhane</span> French military operation

Operation Barkhane was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region and consisted of a roughly 3,000-strong French force, which was permanently headquartered in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation was led in co-operation with five countries, all of which are former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Mali was a part of the operation until August 2022. The countries are collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel". The operation was named after a crescent-shaped dune type that is common in the Sahara desert.

On May 9, 2019, French special operations forces conducted an operation in Gorom-Gorom, northern Burkina Faso to rescue two hostages kidnapped by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara in Pendjari National Park, Benin. The operation successfully freed four hostages, including two French nationals, a South Korean, and an American. Two French soldiers were killed in the raid, and four jihadists were killed.

On December 24, 2019, militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the Burkinabe government military base in Arbinda, Sahel Region, Burkina Faso along with the town of Arbinda itself. The attack was halted due to French and Burkinabe air intervention, although 35 civilians were killed in the jihadists' massacre. The Arbinda attack was the deadliest incident in the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso in several years.

Ba Ag Moussa was a Malian militant and jihadist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso</span> Ongoing insurgency in Burkina Faso (2015–present)

An ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels began in August 2015 and has led to the displacement of over 2 million people and the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians and combatants.

Between March 15 and 16, 2021, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara fighters clashed with Malian and French troops over control of a Malian military base near the town of Tessit, with ISGS jihadists overrunning the coalition.

On November 18, 2019, Malian troops were ambushed by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara during a patrol of Tabankort, in Ménaka Cercle, Mali.

The battle of Boulikessi took place between September 30 and October 1, 2019. Jihadists from JNIM and Ansarul Islam attacked Malian bases in Boulikessi and Mondoro, killing between 40 and 85 Malian soldiers, making it the deadliest attack for the Malian army since the Second Battle of Kidal in 2014.

The 2019 Aguelhok attack was an attack by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin against the MINUSMA base in Aguelhok, Mali on January 20, 2019. At the time of the attack, the base was defended by Chadian and Bengali peacekeepers and was later aided by French forces as part of Operation Barkhane.

On November 24, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin ambushed Nigerien MINUSMA peacekeepers and Malian soldiers in the village of Indelimane, Mali.

The raid on Tin Biden occurred between October 23 and 24, 2017, between French forces of Operation Barkhane and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin in the remote wadi of Tin Biden, Kidal Region, Mali. In the battle, French forces killed eleven Malian prisoners of war held captive by JNIM.

Between April 29 and 30, 2017, French forces launched an offensive against jihadists from Ansarul Islam and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin based in the Foulsaré forest in southern Mali. The operation was dubbed Operation Bayard by the French.

On January 5, 2015, militants from Katiba Macina and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) overran Malian defenses and briefly captured the city of Nampalari, Mali.

Between October 26 and November 8, 2014, French forces of Operation Barkhane launched an offensive against jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine in the area of Ametettai, rural Kidal Region. It was dubbed Operation Tudelle by French authorities.

Hamada Ag Hama, also known as Abdelkrim Taleb or Abdelkrim al-Targui was a Malian jihadist and emir of Katiba Al Ansar, a brigade in Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Between May 31 and June 1, 2017, clashes broke out between Nigerien forces and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) near Abala, Niger. These clashes expanded to the Nigerien-Malian border near Bani-Bangou, and on June 1 the ISGS militants were confronted by French, Malian, and Tuareg militias when the militants fled towards Ménaka Region, Mali.

On July 5, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) attacked Nigerien forces near Midal, Niger. The attack was the first claimed by JNIM in Niger.

On May 14, 2019, jihadists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien forces in Baley Beri, Niger, killing twenty-seven Nigerien soldiers.

On July 1, 2019 Islamic State in the Greater Sahara militants attacked the mining town of Inates, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing eighteen Nigerien soldiers.

Between November 1 and 17, 2019, French and G5 Sahel troops conducted an operation against the jihadist groups of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, Ansarul Islam, and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara in Boulikessi, Déou, and Boula along the Malian and Burkinabe borders.

References

  1. ↑ "Après la mort de treize soldats au Mali, Macron face au défi de la présence française au Sahel" (in French). 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  2. ↑ "Mali : ce que l'on sait de l'attentat revendiqué par Daech qui a tué un militaire français". L'Express (in French). 2019-11-03. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  3. ↑ "Mort en opération du brigadier Ronan Pointeau". defense.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  4. ↑ "Un soldat de la force Barkhane blessé dans une opération au Mali". kibaru.ml (in French). 2019-11-18. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  5. ↑ "BARKHANE : Action d'opportunité dans le Liptako malien". defense.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  6. ↑ "Militaires français tués au Mali : un hommage national lundi aux Invalides". Le Point (in French). 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  7. ↑ "Mali : l'armée française perd treize militaires dans un accident d'hélicoptères" (in French). 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  8. ↑ "Mali: 13 soldats français de la force Barkhane tués dans un crash d'hélicoptères". RFI (in French). 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  9. ↑ "Barkhane : Mort en opération de treize militaires lors de la collision de deux hélicoptères au Mali". defense.gouv.fr. (in French). Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  10. ↑ "Militaires morts au Mali : le chef d'état-major des armées balaye la revendication de Daech". Le Point (in French). 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  11. ↑ "Mali: le groupe EI affirme avoir provoqué la collision des hélicoptères français". RFI (in French). 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  12. 1 2 Peron, Iris (2019-11-29). "Mort de 13 militaires au Mali : qui est le groupe djihadiste qui revendique l'attaque ?". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  13. ↑ "Soldats français tués au Mali: le général Lecointre dément la revendication de l'EI". RFI (in French). 2019-11-29. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  14. ↑ "Militaires tués au Mali : Paris dément la revendication de l'organisation Etat islamique" (in French). 2019-11-29. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  15. ↑ "Thirteen French soldiers killed in Mali helicopter accident". France 24. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  16. ↑ "Mali : treize militaires français tués dans l'accident de deux hélicoptères lors d'une opération de combat". France Bleu (in French). 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  17. ↑ "L'hommage national aux treize soldats morts au Mali : « La liberté a souvent, hélas, le goût du sang versé »" ["National tribute to the thirteen soldiers who died in Mali: "Freedom often, alas, has the taste of spilled blood""]. Le Monde (in French). 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2024-08-22.

15°52′1″N1°30′46″E / 15.86694°N 1.51278°E / 15.86694; 1.51278

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