{"id":1942,"date":"2015-05-20T01:01:35","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T01:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=1942"},"modified":"2015-05-20T01:01:35","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T01:01:35","slug":"sahara-desert-gun-battle-yields-drugs-haul-says-france-3-hours-ago-from-the-sectionafric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/05\/20\/sahara-desert-gun-battle-yields-drugs-haul-says-france-3-hours-ago-from-the-sectionafric\/","title":{"rendered":"Sahara desert gun battle yields drugs haul, says France  3 hours ago From the sectionAfric"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"story-body__mini-info-list-and-share\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story-body__inner\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape full-width has-caption lead\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/660\/media\/images\/83101000\/jpg\/_83101849_barkhane2.jpg\" alt=\"French soldiers with drug haul in Niger\" width=\"306\" height=\"172\" \/><figcaption class=\"media-caption\"><span class=\"media-caption__text\">French and Nigerien forces have been working together to tackle militant Islamists<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">The French army says it has seized 1.5 tonnes of drugs and a cache of weapons after stopping a convoy of militants in the desert in north-eastern Niger.<\/p>\n<p>Militants in two pickup trucks opened fire on French and Nigerien forces after refusing to stop at a checkpoint on 14 May, <a class=\"story-body__link-external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.defense.gouv.fr\/operations\/sahel\/actualites\/interception-d-un-convoi-affilie-aux-terroristes-a-l-extreme-nord-du-niger#.VVrUIxly7wM.twitter\">the French military said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Soldiers discovered the illegal cargo after a fire-fight in which three militants were killed, it added.<\/p>\n<p>France has 3,000 troops in the Sahel region to combat militant Islamists.<\/p>\n<p>Three other militants were also captured and handed over to Nigerien forces, the French army said in its statement.<\/p>\n<p>Widespread trafficking in the Sahel region is a major source of funding for militant Islamist groups across the continent, analysts say.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Barkhane, which comprises French forces as well as troops from Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, was established in August 2014 to stop the emergence of jihadist groups.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape body-width no-caption\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/media\/images\/81743000\/png\/_81743900_sahel4640315.png\" alt=\"Map of west africa\" width=\"464\" height=\"261\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>The checkpoint where the incident took place is located in the Sahara desert in an area the French army describes as &#8220;an important transit zone between Libya and the northern Sahel&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Sahel includes some of the world&#8217;s poorest countries but has rich natural resources in the form of minerals and gas.<\/p>\n<p>France sent troops to Mali in January 2013 after Islamist militants threatened to overrun the capital, Bamako.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; French and Nigerien forces have been working together to tackle militant Islamists The French army says it has seized 1.5 tonnes of drugs and a cache of weapons after stopping a convoy of militants in the desert in north-eastern Niger. Militants in two pickup trucks opened fire on French and Nigerien forces after refusing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sahara desert gun battle yields drugs haul, says France 3 hours ago From the sectionAfric - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sahara desert gun battle yields drugs haul, says France 3 hours ago From the sectionAfric - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; French and Nigerien forces have been working together to tackle militant Islamists The French army says it has seized 1.5 tonnes of drugs and a cache of weapons after stopping a convoy of militants in the desert in north-eastern Niger. 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