By Omar Nor and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
January 13, 2013
Mogadishu,
Somalia (CNN) -- French forces swooped into Somalia for a rescue mission under
the cover of darkness, leading to a fierce gunbattle with militants who
officials fear killed the hostage, a French intelligence commando.
Somalia is divided into three areas: Somaliland and Puntland semi-autonomous; the capital Mogadishu is in Somalia itself. |
The raid Friday night also left a French soldier and 17 Islamist fighters dead, according to the French defense ministry. Another soldier was missing.
French
President Francois Hollande acknowledged Saturday that the operation "did
not succeed."
He
said it led to the "sacrifice" of two French soldiers -- the one
killed and other missing -- and "maybe the assassination" of hostage
Denis Allex, who was a member of the DGSE, France's equivalent of the CIA.
French
Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also told reporters in Paris on Saturday
that "everything leads us to believe that Denis Allex was gunned down by
his captors." But the al-Shabaab militia, which is affiliated with al
Qaeda, claimed that the hostage is unharmed and being held at a new location.
French
militant operations in Africa
The
militants said in a statement on their Twitter account that they will decide
the hostage's fate in the next two days.
Profile:
Who are Al-Shabaab?
The
racket of helicopter blades and volleys of gunfire startled Bulo Marer town
residents out of their sleep Friday night, when French paratroopers descended
on the camp.
Three
helicopters initiated a heated gunbattle with captors under the cover of
darkness in the town about 75 miles northwest of the capital Mogadishu,
eyewitnesses said.
French
soldiers leaped from the aircraft to engage the Islamists on the ground.
Al-Shabaab
'recruiting U.S. citizens'
The
French commandos faced strong resistance from the outset, the defense ministry
said in a statement. "In the course of the assault, fierce fighting took
place."
Al-Shabaab
claimed the French soldiers left behind combat gear and a wounded comrade
before disengaging.
"The
injured French soldier is now in the custody of the Mujahideen,"
al-Shabaab said.
Allex
was abducted on July 14, 2009, while on an official mission in Mogadishu in
support of the transitional Somali government, the French defense ministry
said.
French
media reports suggest that Denis Allex is a pseudonym for the military
serviceman.
France
said it decided to undertake the rescue attempt after the terror group failed
to negotiate for the hostage's release for three and a half years while holding
him in inhumane conditions.
"After
an intensive search, which I want to salute, the intelligence service detected
the location where he was held," Le Drian, France's defense minister, said
Saturday. "... France will never withhold any means to gain the release of
all of its hostages."
Le
Drian expressed his sympathy to the families of the French servicemen lost in
the attempted rescue.
The
defense minister added that there was no connection between the operation in
Somalia and a simultaneous deployment of French troops to Mali.
A
French helicopter pilot was fatally wounded during aerial raids in support of
Malian forces combating Islamist forces Friday afternoon.
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