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| A fully armed Rafale ready for departure |
A yesterday article from the
New York Times quote locals stating that Rafale strikes have been deadly on islamists positions.
[...] The French attacks on Gao, an insurgent stronghold in the north, were
welcomed by Abdheramane Oumarou, a local counselor reached late Sunday
after a day of French airstrikes.
“We are in the best of all possible worlds,” he said. “The planes have
been circling Gao since 5 this morning. All of the sites they targeted,
they hit. The airport. The warehouses, they destroyed them. These were
all sites occupied by the Islamists, and they have been totally
destroyed.”
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| AASM missiles being loaded on a Rafale |
“The Islamists are in hiding. There were many dead,” he added. For the
first time since the insurgents overran the town last year, “the
population of Gao will sleep soundly, and will even snore.”
In Douentza, a town south of Gao but still inside Islamist-held
territory, French strikes have driven the Islamists “into the bush,”
said the parliamentary deputy from the region, Fatoumata Dicko. “We are
breathing much easier now,” she said.[...]
