At the beginning of January, at least nineteen civilians were killed in a French air raid in Mali. This is stated in a UN investigation about which the AFP and Reuters news agencies publish. The investigation will be released later today.
The attack was on January 3 near Bounti, in the center of the country. France stated that radical Islamist militants were targeted and that some 30 Islamists were killed.
Even today, the Ministry of Defense comes with a denial. The French question the way in which the investigation was conducted by the UN. The target of the attack was a group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
According to residents of the area where the air raid took place, the French shot at a wedding party. About a hundred people would have been present.
5000 French soldiers
According to the UN report, carried out by the human rights department of the Mali mission Minusma, nineteen people were killed in the airstrike: sixteen civilians and three armed men. Three other civilians are said to have died of wounds on their way to an aid station. More than a hundred individual interviews were conducted for the report. In addition, group interviews were held and about a hundred telephone conversations were conducted.
France has been active in Mali since 2013 to fight jihadists. There are more than 5,000 French soldiers in the Sahel region, with the center of gravity in Mali. The Netherlands was also active in Mali, between 2014 and 2019.
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