France honours soldiers who died in helicopter collision in Mali
They were fighting militants affiliated with the so-called Islamic State group.
France has honoured 13 soldiers killed when their helicopters collided over Mali while on a mission fighting extremists affiliated with the so-called Islamic State group.
A few thousand people, veterans, uniformed military units and ordinary residents, lined the Alexander II Bridge and the esplanade leading toward the gold-domed Invalides monument in Paris on Monday to pay their respects, as 13 hearses drove slowly past.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita presided over the funeral ceremony at the Invalides, a former military hospital that houses Napoleon’s tomb.
The 13 coffins, draped in the French tricolour, arrived in France over the weekend.
The crash was France’s highest military death toll since 1983.
The French military says it was the result of complex coordination during a combat operation and has dismissed a claim of responsibility by an IS-linked group.
The flight recorders were recovered and an investigation has begun.
Nicolas MEGARD
— France Diplomatie🇫🇷 (@francediplo) December 2, 2019
Benjamin GIREUD
Clément FRISONROCHE
Alex MORISSE
Pierre BOCKEL
Julien CARETTE
Romain SALLES DE SAINT PAUL
Romain CHOMEL DE JARNIEU
Alexandre PROTIN
Antoine SERRE
Valentin DUVAL
Jeremy LEUSIE
Andreï JOUK
Merci.
#HommageNational #Hommage@EtatMajorFR pic.twitter.com/yzoBiK0ttx
The deaths draw new attention to a worrying front in the global fight against extremism, one in which France and local countries have pleaded for more support.
In a surge of violence this month, attackers often linked to IS have killed scores of troops in West Africa’s arid Sahel region.
PA Media
