Shabaab 'may stage grisly display of dead'
2013-01-14 14:15
Paris - France's defence minister said on Monday he feared
that Somali Islamists will stage a "macabre" display of the bodies of
a French soldier and a French spy believed killed during a botched rescue
operation.
"All indications unfortunately lead us to believe that
the Shabaab are preparing to organise a disgraceful and macabre display"
of the bodies, Jean-Yves Le Drian said, referring to the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab
group.
In 1993, the bodies of US soldiers were dragged through the
streets and mutilated in the Somali capital Mogadishu after a battle between
American forces and Somali militia fighters.
Saturday's attempt to free an intelligence agent with the
alias Denis Allex went badly wrong, leaving one French soldier killed and
another missing, and Le Drian said it was likely that the Islamists had killed
their hostage.
The minister said at the weekend only that a soldier was
missing, but on Monday he said it now appeared that the soldier had died.
The Shabaab said on Monday that he had died despite their
efforts to save him. But they have denied that Allex is dead.
Le Drian said on Saturday that 17 guerrillas were killed
during the raid, while witnesses said eight civilians were killed in the
operation at Bulomarer, a town still in the control of the militants.
Allex had been held by the militants for three-and-a-half
years. The botched operation to free him involved some 50 troops and at least
five helicopters.
