MOGADISHU, Jan 13: French troops underestimated the strength of Islamist rebels when they launched a failed bid to free an intelligence officer held hostage in Somalia, the French defense minister said.
One French soldier died and another went missing during the raid in which the hostage was probably killed by his captors, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday. Seventeen guerrillas were killed, he added.
The overnight operation involving some 50 troops and at least five helicopters to free the intelligence agent, with the alias of Denis Allex, was launched by elite forces from the DGSE secret service, he said.
“The resistance was stronger than expected and the heavy weaponry at the hands of the terrorists were clearly underestimated,” said Le Drian.
He said that one commado was dead and another missing and that “all indications” point to that fact Allex had been killed by his captors belonging to the Shebab, a Somali Islamist group affiliated to Al-Qaeda.
However the group denied that Allex was dead and said they were also holding the missing French commando. They also threatened reprisals against France.
“In the end, it will be the French citizens who will inevitably taste the bitter consequences of their government’s devil-may-care attitude towards hostages,” a Shebab statement said.
French President Francois Hollande said the operation failed “despite the sacrifice of two of our soldiers and without doubt the killing of our hostage”, but underscored France’s determination “not give in to the blackmail of terrorists.”
Le Drian said the raid in Bulomarer, some 110 kilometres south of Mogadishu, was sparked by the “intransigence of the terrorists who have refused to negotiate for three and a half years and were holding Denis Allex in inhuman conditions.”
Although the raid happened on Friday, the same day French troops launched air strikes on Islamist militants in Mali, in west Africa, the minister said the operations were not connected.
Allex is among nine French hostages in Africa of whom at least six are held by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
A French expert involved in several hostage negotiations said “talks with the Somali Islamists had become impossible due to the huge ransom demanded and the marked opposition of the Americans to the payment of ransom. (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel