750 French troops deployed in Mali anti-Islamist offensive: Hollande
French soldiers leave a hangar at the Malian army air base in Bamako.
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
A member of the Royal Air Force Regiment flight crew guides a French armoured personnel carriers as it is driven off a C17 aircraft in Bamako, Mali.
Image by: ANDREW WINNING / REUTERS
Image by: ANDREW WINNING / REUTERS
French soldiers attend weapon training in a hangar at the Malian army air base in Bamako. France, which has poured hundreds of troops into the capital Bamako in recent days, carried out more air raids on Monday in the vast desert area seized last year by an Islamist alliance grouping al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM alongside Mali's home-grown MUJWA and Ansar Dine militant groups.
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
A French Rafale fighter landing in Ndjamena, Chad, before being deployed to Mali. Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels in Mali launched a counter-offensive on Monday after three days of strikes by French jets on their strongholds in the desert to the north.
Image by: Reuters.
Image by: Reuters.
French soldiers talk next to a Malian military helicopter in a hangar at the Malian army air base in Bamako.
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
A broken down Royal Air Force C-17 stands in the foreground as another prepares to be loaded with French military equipment at Evreux in northern France. Britain is lending logistical support to France as it sends troops and military equipment to Mali.
Image by: ANDREW WINNING / REUTERS
Image by: ANDREW WINNING / REUTERS
French soldiers walk past a hangar they are staying at the Malian army air base in Bamako.
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
Image by: JOE PENNEY / REUTERS
A total of 750 French troops have joined the offensive against Islamist rebels in Mali where overnight strikes “achieved their goal,” French President Francois Hollande said in Abu Dhabi.
Save & Share
Related News
-
US cautious after attempts to train Mali Army backfire
-
Mali rebels close on capital
-
Tuareg rebels ready to help French forces in Mali
“For now, we have 750 men and the number will increase,” said Hollande during a visit to his country’s only military base in the region — Peace Camp in Abu Dhabi. “New strikes overnight achieved their goal,” he added.
Hollande said that the deployment of a joint African force to help French troops battle al Qaeda-affiliated militants in Mali could take “a good week.”
Speaking from a French military base in Abu Dhabi, Hollande also said French forces in Mali had overnight “made further strikes which hit their targets.”
“We will continue the deployment of forces on the ground and in the air,” Hollande added.
SHARE YOUR OPINION
If you have an opinion you would like to share on this article, please send us an e-mail to the Times LIVE iLIVE team. In the mean time, click here to view the Times LIVE iLIVE section.