UAE begins first flights to support counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel

The UAE has launched “logistical support flights” as part of French-led counter-terror operations in the African Sahel. The first flight took off from Abu Dhabi watched by Maj. Gen. Saleh Mohammed Al-Ameri, commander of joint operations at the Ministry of Read More …

Risks of Explosive devices – On International Mine Awareness Day

According to the latest data from the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), an international network in which AAR Japan participates, the number of confirmed deaths and injuries due to landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) in 2019 rose Read More …

Mali: Around 20 UN Peacekeepers Injured In Major Attack On MINUSMA Base

Some 20 UN peacekeepers serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali, MINUSMA, were injured on Wednesday, after their temporary base came under attack in the restive central region of the country. In a statement, MINUSMA said that the ‘blue Read More …

Blue Helmets trained in robotic mine clearance

Thirty-one of Cambodia’s Blue Helmet troops are being trained to use robotics to clear mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) before being sent on United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions. Deputy director-general of the National Center for Peacekeeping Force, Mines and Explosive Read More …

Peacekeepers under attack again in Mali, as one Egyptian blue helmet dies, another seriously injured

An explosive device (IED) detonated under a truck that was part of a logistics convoy from the UN Stabilization Mission in the country, MINUSMA, at around 3pm in the vicinity of Tessalit, in the Kidal region, said the mission. “The Read More …

Three Ivorian UN peacekeepers killed in Mali attack

Three UN peacekeepers from Ivory Coast were killed in central Mali on Wednesday, the UN and Ivorian government said, in the latest violence to hit the war-torn Sahel state. Peacekeepers travelling the road linking the central town of Douentza to Read More …

Meet Bonny, the first British military search dog deployed to Mali

Lance Corporal Grant Stevens and his companion Bonny are part of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team newly deployed to Mali A three-hundred strong task group of British soldiers has arrived in Mali as part of the UN Peacekeeping Mission (MINUSMA). Read More …

Two French soldiers killed during operation in Mali

Two French soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in northeastern Mali on Saturday, just days after three others died in similar fashion. Their deaths brought to 50 the number of French soldiers killed in the Read More …

Three French soldiers killed in Mali IED blast

Three French soldiers died after their armoured vehicle hit an IED in the Hombori area of Mali’s central Mopti province. The soldiers were participating in a military operation as part of a larger mission aiming at fighting armed groups in Read More …

International Operation Disrupts Supply of Firearms to Terrorists: INTERPOL & UNODC Target Firearms Trafficking in West Africa and the Sahel

Lyon (France) & Vienna (Austria), 21 December 2020 — A seven-day operation saw law enforcement officers intercept illicit firearms, ammunition and explosives, and disrupt the trafficking networks used to supply terrorists across West Africa and the Sahel. Under Operation KAFO Read More …

British troops deployed to war-torn Mali for UN’s most dangerous peacekeeping mission

British soldiers have arrived in Mali to join the world’s most dangerous UN peacekeeping mission in the war-torn west African country. The 300 troops from the Light Dragoons and Royal Anglian Regiment will work alongside 16,000 peacekeepers from 56 different Read More …

France says it has killed senior al Qaeda operative in Mali

French forces have killed Bah ag Moussa, a military leader of al Qaeda’s North Africa wing, during an operation in northeastern Mali, Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said on Friday. The former Malian army colonel, also known as Bamoussa Diarra, Read More …

UN peacekeeper killed and another seriously wounded after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in northern Mali

A UN peacekeeper was killed in northern Mali and another seriously wounded after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb on Thursday, the UN mission said. The attack came as civil servants in the capital, Bamako, protested against the “selective release” Read More …

Ambulance hits landmine in southern Mali, killing six

Six civilians, including a pregnant woman, were killed in southern Mali when the ambulance they were travelling in struck a landmine, the health ministry said on Saturday. It was not clear who was responsible for laying the mine, but the Read More …

Two French soldiers killed in Mali

The two soldiers died after their armoured vehicle hit an improvised explosive device on September 5. A third soldier was wounded in the explosion. French President Emmanuel Macron expresses his “deep respect” for the soldiers’ “sacrifice” and sends his “sincere Read More …

French soldier killed in combat in Mali

A French soldier from the army’s First Parachute Hussar Regiment was killed in combat in Mali, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Thursday. “This soldier … was killed in fighting against armed terrorist groups, when an improvised explosive device was triggered Read More …

UK loans Estonia four Jackal vehicles to support counter-terror mission in Mali

Estonian Special Forces deploying to Mali will be loaned four Jackal armoured vehicles by the UK Ministry of Defence, it is today announced. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey confirmed the loan, plus a three-week training package, for elite Read More …