The French military has denied a statement by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia that it was responsible for the helicopter collision in Mali with 13 French soldiers killed. "This is absolutely wrong," said Chief of Staff François Lecointre the station Radio France Internationale.
It was a collision in a very complex combat mission, so Lecointre. There was no attack on the jihadists, the general said.
The terrorist militia had claimed the incident for themselves. "Soldiers of the Caliphate" had attacked one of the helicopters during a landing approach and thus caused the collision with another, according to a message spread on the Internet. The authenticity of the explanation was initially not independently verified.
The helicopters are said to have persecuted a group of terrorists
Lecointre confirmed in the interview information from the French Ministry of Defense, according to which the commandos in a Cougar helicopter and a Tiger attack helicopter had pursued a group of terrorists who had been discovered a few hours earlier and traveling with pickup trucks and motorcycles. A commemoration of the soldiers killed is planned for Monday in Paris.
Mali also has up to 1,100 Bundeswehr soldiers in action. They are part of a UN mission to stabilize the country. In the countries of the Sahel, a region that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea south of the Sahara, several armed groups are active. Some have sworn allegiance to IS.
