BERLIN, 7 March. (DPA/EP) –
A German Armed Forces patrol integrated into the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was attacked this Tuesday in the city of Gao, located in the north of the country, an event that resulted in no casualties.
A spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense has indicated in statements to the German news agency DPA that two bullets hit the vehicle in which the patrol was traveling and has detailed that the shots were fired from about 150 meters away.
Likewise, it has indicated that after the event the soldiers interrupted the mission they were carrying out and returned to their camp, without any claim of responsibility for the incident for the moment.
Germany has more than 1,100 troops deployed in Mali as part of MINUSMA, at a time of tension between the mission and the military junta that has been in place since the August 2020 coup, followed by a second coup in May 2021.
Thus, Bamako has repeatedly denied flight permits to military aircraft and the Heron reconnaissance drone, operated by German forces, while the presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group in support of Malian security operations has provoked criticism from from various western countries.
For all these reasons, the German authorities announced in November 2022 that they will end the military deployment in Mali in May 2024, thus following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom and France despite the fact that the Sahel region is experiencing increased activity. of jihadist groups.
