A raid to free a French intelligence agent held captive in Somalia for three years went horribly wrong yesterday, leaving 17 Islamists and at least one French commando dead in a mud-caked farming town deep in Islamist territory. Another commando was missing.
The French agent, known by his code-name Denis Allex, was captured on July 14, 2009.
The deadly fighting occurred in the Somali town of Bulomarer, a small community under Islamist control for four years.
“This operation could not be achieved despite the sacrifice of two of our soldiers and doubtless the murder of our hostage,” French President Francois Hollande said in a grim nationwide broadcast yesterday.
The Islamists deny Allex is dead and said they captured the missing commando.