On Thursday, the French President Francois Hollande’s office disclosed that a French soldier was killed in Mali after a clash with armed militants. According to Hollande’s office, the West African state is much more vulnerable to attacks from jihadist groups. “The president has learned with great sadness of the death of a (soldier) … following a clash with terrorists during an operation in the southeast of the country.”The Sahel region with its huge expanse of remote desert is home to several jihadist groups. The area saw several armed attacks on targets inside neighboring Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast last year. France intervened in Mali four years ago to drive out al Qaeda-linked militants who hijacked a rebellion in 2012 by ethnic Tuaregs and attempted to take control of the central government in Bamako.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 06, 2017 13:41 UTC