French forces continue operations against Mali Islamists

Mr Le Drian said on Saturday that hundreds of French troops were involved in the military operation in Mali,and President Hollande said the operation would continue for as long as necessary. In a speech in the Elysee Palace he said that precautions were being taken against terrorist attack.  







A raid carried out by French special forces in Somalia failed to rescue a French  intellegence officer who was held as a hostage. Denis Allex was said to have been killed by his captors and a French soldier killed in what the French Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian called a violent confrontation which killed a number of Al Shebab terrorist.another French soldier is missing. There is increased concern for the eight French hostages held by AQIM and Mujao.

The Ecowas intervention force is expected to arrive in Mali on Monday according to Ali Coulibaly, Ivory Coast's African Integration Minister. A spokesman for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said he considered the French operation a "Crusader intervention", and told France it would be "would be digging the tombs of [its] sons" if the operation continued, according to the Mauritania-based Sahara Media website.