Paris - French commandos rescued four
foreign hostages including two French citizens from a militant
group in Burkina Faso, France's military said on Friday, adding
that two of the elite soldiers were killed in the night-time
operation.
French special forces carried out the raid under cover of
dark over the night of Thursday-Friday, supported by US intelligence and troops from France's Barkhane operation
deployed in the Sahel region to counter Islamist militants.
All four hostages were safe, President Emmanuel Macron's
office said, adding that a US woman and a South Korean woman
were also freed in the covert operation.
"The precise and determined actions of French soldiers
allowed us to take out the kidnappers while protecting the lives
of the hostages," France's army chief Francois Lecointre told a
news conference, describing the militant group as "terrorists".
Four kidnappers were killed and two escaped, he said.
"Those who attack France and the French know that we will
spare no effort to track them and take them out. We will never
abandon our citizens," Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told
reporters.
The French forces had not been aware of the presence of the
US and South Korean hostages ahead of the operation and they
had been held for 28 days, Lecointre said.
"We were not aware of their presence ... the American will
be repatriated separately," Parly said.
"The contacts (with those countries) show that these
countries were not necessarily aware of their presence."
A spokeswoman for the US State Department said the United
States was grateful for the successful recovery of the hostages,
including a U.S. citizen, and offered condolences to the
families of the two solders killed.
"The successful operation demonstrates the importance of our
historic alliance with France. We reaffirm our solidarity with
the people of Burkina Faso and Benin in the face of these
threats," she said.
South Korea had confirmed the identity of the South Korean
hostage, a woman in her 40s, its foreign ministry said.
South Korea offered condolences to the families of the
soldiers killed and was sincerely grateful to France for the
rescue, the ministry said.
France, the former colonial power in the region, intervened
in Mali in 2013 against Islamist militants then occupying Mali's
north and has since kept about 4,500 troops in the Sahel.
The region has seen a spike in violence by militants linked
to al Qaeda and Islamic State in past years, highlighting the
difficulty international partners face in restoring stability.
France's defence ministry identified the fallen soldiers as
two elite naval commandos.
Burkina Faso's President Roch Kabore hailed the hostages'
release and offered condolences to the soldiers' families.
"The joint military intervention that allowed us to achieve
these results shows our common engagement in fighting against
the forces of evil," Kabore said in a Facebook post.
SPREADING INSTABILITY
The two French tourists were kidnapped on May 1 in Benin's
Pendjari National Park, which lies on Benin's northern frontier
with Burkina Faso. Their safari guide was found dead, his body
riddled with bullets, and their vehicle burned.
The French government had warned its citizens against
travelling to parts of Benin near the Burkina Faso border
because of the risk of kidnapping.
Swathes of northern and eastern Burkina Faso have been
overrun by militants, leaving the government struggling to
assert authority and forcing over 100,000 residents to flee.
In February, Burkina Faso said militants were increasingly
active in West Africa and instability in the Sahel was spreading
to coastal countries such as Benin and Ivory Coast.
Led by France, Western powers have also provided funding and
weapons to a regional force made up of soldiers from Mali,
Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania to combat jihadists.
But the so-called G5 force has been hobbled by delays in
disbursing the money and poor coordination between the five
countries, while insecurity has escalated in the border region
between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.