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FRANCE has denied reports that it bombed a wedding in Mali, killing 20 people, including children, on Sunday.
In a statement on Tuesday, the French military rejected locals’ claims that a helicopter had opened fire on the wedding ceremony in Mali’s central Mopti region, insisting that it had carried out an air strike on jihadist miiltants.
France said that the strike was conducted after detailed research and days of tracking individuals, contradicting local reports. An unnamed French military spokesman said: “Reports relating to a wedding do not match the observations that were made.”
But villagers said they were attacked by the helicopter in broad daylight. Ahmadou Ghana told Agence France-Presse that “it was: run for your lives.” Two of his brothers were killed in the strike.
France has more than 5,000 troops based in the Sahel region as part of efforts to defeat Islamist insurgencies that are destablising the region.
Two French soldiers were killed on Saturday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb as they gathered intelligence in the Menaka region in eastern Mali.