Hundreds of civilians protested in Mali against the presence of foreign units in the Gao area, local media reports. The demonstrators demanded that the security forces participating in Operation Barkhan leave the region within 72 hours.
The reason for the rally was an attack by Islamic State militants (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation) on the Tessit settlement.< /p>
42 security officials and several civilians were killed by the jihadists. Protesters accused France and its Barkhane allies of providing air support to IS fighters. The absurd claim of MTO assistance came from ambiguous wording in a statement on a terrorist attack by the Malian armed forces, which noted the use of a UAV by Islamists.
According to Telegram-Canada Directorate 4, due to disagreements with Bamako, Paris decided to limit counter-terrorist operations in Mali/