PARIS—Two French soldiers were killed in Mali on Saturday when their vehicle hit a bomb during operations under France’s counterterrorism mission in the region. The soldiers killed on Saturday were conducting operations around Tessalit, a village in northern Mali, as part of Operation Barkhane, the French military campaign against Islamist militants across the Sahel region of Africa. Their deaths bring the French death toll in combat operations to 44 soldiers during the current operation and the short operation before it that began in 2013, a French military spokesman said. That includes an accident in November 2019, when two French helicopters collided during a mission in northern Mali, killing 13 soldiers. The U.S. military has provided key support to the French operation, including drone surveillance and other intelligence collection activities.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 06, 2020 11:37 UTC