- Sentinel joins two C-17 transport aircraft in West Africa
- Prime Minister promised extra help for French forces earlier this week
- French and Malian forces take back Gao airport from Islamist insurgents
- No estimates on casualties but they came under sporadic fire
|
An RAF spy plane has been deployed to support the French military action in Mali as forces made a significant inroad by retaking Gao airport.
The highly sophisticated Sentinel aircraft joins two giant C-17 transport aircraft which have been airlifting men and tons of supplies to the country fighting Islamist militants.
Carrying a crew of five, the Sentinel has played a vital role in counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan and against Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.
The Sentinel spy plane will join two C-17 transport aircraft helping French forces in Mali
David Cameron pledged extra help for the Mali mission this week amid concern over the situation in west Africa.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: 'As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK supports France's decision to provide military support to the Malian government.
'Following NSC [National Security Council meeting] on Tuesday and discussions with the French, we have now decided to deploy Sentinel, a surveillance capability that has proved its worth in Libya and on an ongoing basis for counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan.'
Islamic extremists based in the Malian town of Ansongo destroyed a bridge near the Niger border yesterday, the first use of explosives by the insurgents since the start of the French-led military intervention two weeks ago.
But French forces have regained three towns from the insurgents and today recaptured the airport in the Islamist stronghold of Gao, one of three provincial capitals controlled by the al-Qaida-linked rebels.
French forces took control of the airport and a key bridge after an operation carried out under the cover of darkness in the early hours of this morning.
The move comes just two weeks after France launched its military offensive to rout the Islamists from power in northern Mali.
French and Malian forces came under fire in the morning and continued to face sporadic 'acts of harassment' in the afternoon, said Colonel Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman in Paris.
He had no immediate estimate on casualties.
The Islamists first seized control of Gao and two other northen provinicial capitals - Timbuktu and Kidal - in April last year during the chaotic aftermath of a coup in the distant capital Bamako.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced in a statement today that jihadist fighters who encountered the advancing French and Malian troops 'saw their means of transport and their logistics sites destroyed.'
Before the joint air-land operations overnight, French forces carried out 'an important phase of air strikes' around Gao and Timbuktu, with nearly 30 bombs fired from fighter jets over the previous two days, the military said.
More French and African troops and equipment were being sent to Gao, announced the French defense ministry.
Troops from Chad and Niger 'should arrive in the Gao area very soon,' it added.
Conflict: A French soldier secures an area during an ordinance clearing exercise at a destroyed Islamic militants camp in Mali
Ironically the RAF's five Sentinels are to be retired in 2015, to save money – only eight years after coming into service.
Mr Cameron spoke earlier this week of a global 'generational struggle' against al Qaida-inspired Islamist terrorism in North Africa and said the UK should 'thicken' links with region following this month's hostage crisis in Algeria.
He said Britain will provide troops to an EU mission to train the Malian military to take on Islamist militants who have taken over the north of the country.
The mission, due to deploy in February or March, is expected to include around 250 trainers and 250 force protection troops and Mr Cameron said the British contribution would number 'in the tens, not the hundreds', with aides saying it would be at the lower end of that range
This region has valuable minerals, OK?
- Burghard , Lancing, 26/1/2013 14:04
Report abuse