Operation Panther (2013)

Operation Panther
Part of Northern Mali conflict and Operation Serval
Adrar des Ifoghas
Date 19 February - 25 March 2013 (1 month and 6 days) Location Adrar des Ifoghas, Mali Result French Victory
Belligerents
France  Chad	AQIM Ansar Dine
Commanders and leaders
Bernard Barrera Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno	Abdelhamid Abou Zeid  †
Strength
1200 800	400-500
Casualties and losses
3 killed, 120 wounded 27 killed, 67-71 wounded	200-250 killed, 26+ Captured 45 Pick-ups destroyed 1 BM-21 Captured 2 BRDM-2 destroyed

Operation Panther was a French military operation in Mali that was launched in February 2013. On 19 February 2013, heavy fighting occurred as French Special Forces pushed deeper into the Azawad hinterland in pursuit of Islamist insurgents. During the engagement one paratrooper from the French Foreign Legion and 20 Islamists were killed. French President François Hollande commented during a visit to Greece that one French soldier and many Islamists had been killed in the fighting.

Early in the afternoon on February 20 a dozen Islamists were killed by French ground troops backed by Tiger helicopters. Near the Algerian border, a van carrying jihadists was destroyed by a Tiger helicopter and several of its occupants were killed. According to Colonel Thierry Burkhard "a little less than a dozen terrorists" were "neutralized" on February 20. In addition, Burkhard said that ten targets were destroyed by air strikes from either planes or helicopters in the Adrar des Iforas and Bourem, destroying an armored vehicle and four pick-up. More weapons caches were discovered and several vehicles and rocket launchers were seized.

The offensive continued in the Adrar Tigharghar where there are concentrated forces of AQIM . According to Ag Acherif Bilal, head of the MNLA, "There are many areas where AQIM are to the west of Timbuktu, but Tigharghar is their anchor. This is where you will find the bulk of their forces, both human and material. The current battle is of paramount importance . ' On 26 February, the French Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian said that fighting had continued and that there were "many, many dead jihadists. ' According to a notable informant at the Aguel'hoc passage of Kidal : "There are French and Chadian troops on the ground, but also many strikes by Tiger Helicopters. " he noted that two training camps of the Mujao were hit by airstrikes and dozens of fighters from around Gao were killed. French air strikes continue to destroy shelters and camps and information is collected on the ground. Wednesday, February 27, a LAV 3 GTIA hit a mine near Taghlit In Tessalit, two French soldiers were wounded, one slightly, and could rejoin his unit the next day, the second was more severely affected, and was evacuated to France. On 28 February, the French army claims to have discovered a large weapons dump, thanks to the cooperation of the local population, which contained more than a dozen workshops and caches, four 82mm mortars, 70 122mm rockets, 9 50 kg bags of explosive, 3 bottles of improvised explosive and was captured by French troops. On the morning of Thursday, February 28, the Staff stated that the French armies fighting in the region over the previous few days had killed about 130 Islamists.

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Wikipedia