Mali: French army at the scene of a controversial air strike

The French force in the Sahel Barkhane said Friday January 8 to have moved to the scene of a strike carried out Sunday January 3 by its air force in Mali, reaffirming that it had only hit jihadists while villagers reported civilian casualties at the same time in the same area.

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"

In the morning, a land mission made up of soldiers from the Barkhane Force went to the scene of the French strike carried out on January 3, north of the village of Bounti,

" said the staff in a brief statement. .

"

The elements gathered during this mission are in all respects in accordance with the situation analysis and assessment produced so far

."

The events that have occurred in the Douentza-Hombori sector (center) have for days raised questions about the possibility of a blunder in the heart of one of the main centers of the violence that has bloodied the Sahel.

Villagers and an association for the defense of the Fulani ethnic group reported an airstrike that hit a wedding party, killing around 20 people in the village of Bounti.

Described by several villagers as a helicopter, the device which would have fired could a priori belong only to the Malian or French armies, the only ones to strike from the Malian sky.

But France, which remained silent until Tuesday, as well as the Malian authorities, say the airstrikes were targeting a group of jihadists.

Paris ruled out the use of a helicopter as the presence of a wedding on the scene.

"

This combat action

", carried out by means of "

three bombs

" made it possible to "

neutralize

" about thirty jihadists, the staff recalled Thursday evening, adding that the available elements made it possible "

to exclude the possibility of collateral damage

”.

The Malian authorities, dominated by the military since the putsch of August 18, 2020, had for their part delivered a version consistent with that of the French army.

They announced the opening of an investigation "

to better understand what happened

".

The silence observed by the authorities had left the field open to speculation, favored by the difficulties of access to information in a dangerous and isolated area.

No image is returned from Bounti.

The versions of the armies and the villagers diverge to the point that the concomitance of two distinct events could not be categorically ruled out.