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Sunday, March 03, 2013

France says third soldier killed in northern Mali fighting

PARIS (Reuters) - A third French soldier was killed in northern Mali fighting Islamist rebels alongside African troops, the French government said on Sunday.

France's defence ministry said that 26-year-old Corporal Cedric Charenton was killed late on Saturday in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains bordering the Algerian border.

French soldiers pass a donkey-driven cart outside the destroyed main market in Gao, March 2, 2013. REUTERS/Joe Penney
French soldiers pass a donkey-driven cart outside the destroyed main market in Gao, March 2, 2013. REUTERS/Joe Penney

Chad's army said this week that it killed two regional al Qaeda commanders in the area: Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Adelhamid Abou Zeid.

The joint force is hunting down pockets of al-Qaeda-linked insurgents after a seven-week French-led campaign to break Islamist domination of Mali's north.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Copyright © 2013 Reuters

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