[h=3]By NADYA MASIDLOVER[/h]PARIS—France said one of its helicopter pilots was killed in Mali on Friday, on the first day of a military intervention aimed at helping the Malian army push back the southern progression of rebel groups that control the northern half of the African country.
French combat helicopters intervened in the area of Mopti, in central Mali, and succeeded in stopping the advance of rebel groups, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday.
The French pilot was wounded during the operation and died later in the hospital, the minister said.
Mr. Le Drian said France is deploying more troops to Mali and using some of its combat aircraft based in neighboring Chad to conduct air strikes against rebel groups.
He declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that France has requested U.S. assistance for the Malian campaign.
Western countries have watched anxiously in recent months as al Qaeda's Saharan affiliate seized a vast stretch of Mali's north following the collapse of the country's democratically elected government in March 2012.
For about a decade, experts say, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, as the group is known, has trained terrorists, facilitated drug trafficking, and kidnapped foreigners for ransom in the vast Sahara region. In recent months, it and other Islamist groups have begun violently imposing Islamic rule in Mali's north, prompting hundreds of thousands of residents to flee south. These groups currently hold eight French hostages in the region.
Until Friday, international plans to assist Mali in coping with the rebel onslaught had moved slowly. The U.N. Security Council passed three resolutions last year to prepare the ground for an African-led military intervention. Within the framework of those resolutions, France and other European Union countries had been in the process of sending military instructors to the region to help set up a special African force and reorganize Mali's small army. The U.S. had said it might provide some technical and financial support.
But French President François Hollande said Friday that after rebel groups renewed their push toward the south of Mali this week, a prompt reaction was necessary. "The very existence of this state, a friend of ours, is at stake," the French president said in a short televised address.
French combat helicopters intervened in the area of Mopti, in central Mali, and succeeded in stopping the advance of rebel groups, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday.
The French pilot was wounded during the operation and died later in the hospital, the minister said.
Mr. Le Drian said France is deploying more troops to Mali and using some of its combat aircraft based in neighboring Chad to conduct air strikes against rebel groups.
He declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that France has requested U.S. assistance for the Malian campaign.
Western countries have watched anxiously in recent months as al Qaeda's Saharan affiliate seized a vast stretch of Mali's north following the collapse of the country's democratically elected government in March 2012.
For about a decade, experts say, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, as the group is known, has trained terrorists, facilitated drug trafficking, and kidnapped foreigners for ransom in the vast Sahara region. In recent months, it and other Islamist groups have begun violently imposing Islamic rule in Mali's north, prompting hundreds of thousands of residents to flee south. These groups currently hold eight French hostages in the region.
Until Friday, international plans to assist Mali in coping with the rebel onslaught had moved slowly. The U.N. Security Council passed three resolutions last year to prepare the ground for an African-led military intervention. Within the framework of those resolutions, France and other European Union countries had been in the process of sending military instructors to the region to help set up a special African force and reorganize Mali's small army. The U.S. had said it might provide some technical and financial support.
But French President François Hollande said Friday that after rebel groups renewed their push toward the south of Mali this week, a prompt reaction was necessary. "The very existence of this state, a friend of ours, is at stake," the French president said in a short televised address.