Status: 26.06.2021 09:29 a.m.
Twelve Bundeswehr soldiers were injured in an attack in Mali. They are said to be flown out to Germany for treatment in a special air force transporter. The machine has meanwhile arrived.
After the attack on UN soldiers in Mali, an Air Force plane arrived in the West African crisis state to transport twelve injured Bundeswehr soldiers back. The strategic transport of the wounded landed in the city of Gao, said the operational command of the AFP news agency.
The wounded are to be brought to Germany for further treatment on the Airbus A400M. According to information from the dpa news agency, the soldiers are to be flown to Cologne and possibly also to Stuttgart.
The machine had set off early in the morning from the Wunstorf air force base for an evacuation flight to Mali. The aircraft type can be used as a flying intensive care unit and was also used in the corona pandemic to transfer patients from Italy and France to Germany.
Twelve wounded Bundeswehr soldiers in an explosive attack in Mali
Stephan Stuchlik, ARD Berlin, daily topics 9.45 p.m., June 25, 2021
Three soldiers seriously wounded
Around 180 kilometers northeast of Gao, a suicide bomber attacked a patrol of German UN soldiers with a car bomb on Friday, injuring 13 people. According to official information, there were twelve Germans and one Belgian. According to the operational command, civil rescue helicopters and a UN helicopter flew the wounded to Gao in French, Chinese and German medical facilities.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said three of the Germans were seriously injured. According to the UN, the soldiers secured the convoy of a Malian battalion. The previous day was preceded by the explosion of an explosive device, which only caused property damage to a vehicle.
There has been instability since 2012
Around 900 German soldiers are currently involved in the UN Minusma mission. The upper limit is 1100 men and women from Germany. The mission is intended to support the peace process in Mali. Islamist terrorist groups are active in the country.
The political situation has been characterized by increasing instability since 2012. Most of the Islamist-motivated violence has also reached neighboring countries in the Sahel zone in recent years. Thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed in the crisis region, and hundreds of thousands had to flee their homes.
France is increasing the pressure
In 2013, a massive military operation by the French repulsed the advance of the terrorist militias on the capital Bamako. Organized crime and cross-border smuggling are also a problem in the region, through which migration routes to North Africa and further on to Europe run.
Most recently there were two military coups in Mali. Most recently, the question arose as to whether Mali is even moving in the direction of radical Islamism after the latest coup. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a fundamental realignment of the French military presence in the Sahel region. He wants to suspend the anti-terrorist operation “Operation Barkhane” in order to increase the pressure on the crisis state and the putschists.