| Battle of the Serma Forest | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mali War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France |
 Katibat Macina | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None |
15 killed 5 captured | ||||||
| |||||
The battle of the Serma Forest took place between January 4 and 9, 2019, led by French troops in Operation Barkhane against Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
Prelude[]
At the beginning of 2019, French forces conducted several small operations in the Serma Forest, near Boni, in the Douentza Cercle.[1][2] These operations were carried out by the (GTD) Picarde group in concordance with another French group and the Malian Army (FAMa).[3] The main target was Katibat Macina, the central Malian front of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.[4]
Battle[]
The operation began on the night between January 4 and 5, after French helicopters backed by airstrikes attacked JNIM hideouts in the Serma forest.[1] In one of the airstrikes, several JNIM fighters were killed.[3] Days later, French commandos attacked the forest on the ground, discovering a training area and a logistics base. Several vehicles and caches of ammunition were seized.[3]
The French army later stated that around twenty jihadists were rendered combat-ineffective from the battle.[2][3] Of those, fifteen were killed in the battle, and five were captured.[5]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Opération Barkhane : une vingtaine de jihadistes "mis hors de combat"" (in fr). 2019-01-10. https://www.voaafrique.com/a/opérations-barkhane-une-vingtaine-de-jihadistes-mis-hors-de-combat-/4737544.html.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.facebook.com/RFI+(2019-01-10).+"Bilan de l'opération contre la katiba Serma au Mali" (in fr). https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20190110-bilan-operation-contre-katiba-serma-mali.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "20 membres de groupes armés terroristes mis hors de combat au Mali" (in fr). https://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2019/01/10/20-membres-de-groupes-armes-terroristes-mis-hors-de-combat-a-19937.html.
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/RFI+(2019-01-09).+"Mali: qui est la katiba Serma, cible d'une opération antiterroriste?" (in fr). https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20190108-mali-katiba-serma-cible-operation-antiterroriste.
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/RFI+(2019-01-07).+"Mali: opération anti-terroriste à Boni, dans le cercle de Douentza" (in fr). https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20190107-mali-operation-barkhane-anti-terroriste-boni-douentza.
The original article can be found at Battle of the Serma Forest and the edit history here.