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Accidental shooting kills French marine in Mali

Saturday, 29 August 2015 2:38 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 29 August 2015 2:38 PM ]

French soldiers of the Barkhane unit take part in the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris, July 14, 2015. (AFP Photo)

A French soldier stationed in an army camp in the African country of Mali has been killed by a fellow soldier in an inadvertent incident.

The French Defense Ministry said on Saturday that Baptiste Truffaux died after taking an “accidental shot” at the military camp in the Gao region.

The 23-year-old marine was treated at the scene of the incident and then transported to a surgical hospital, where he succumbed to his wound, the army said in a statement.

Truffaux had joined the French army in June 2013 and was sent to Mali in May 2015.

He was part of the 3,000-strong operating force of France and four other countries in Mali as part of a so-called counter-terrorism operation codenamed Barkhane.

Launched in 2014, Operation Barkhane covered five African countries in the Sahel region, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

The French force, which is headquartered in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, uses US-made drones to spot targets in its vast cross-border operational zone.

In addition to the drones, the French military has deployed 10 aircraft, 20 helicopters, 200 armored vehicles and six warplanes to assist the permanent French forces in carrying out missions in the former French colonies.

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