AhlulBayt News Agency - Three French soldiers have been killed in Libya, President François Hollande said Wednesday, in the first official confirmation that France has troops in the conflict-ridden North African state.
"At this moment we are carrying out dangerous intelligence operations [in Libya]," Hollande said in a speech. "Three of our soldiers, who were involved in these operations, have been killed in a helicopter accident."
Confirming the deaths, a statement by France's defence ministry lauded "the bravery and devotion of French military personnel who each day are carrying out dangerous missions against terrorists".
Earlier in the day, French government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll had acknowledged that special forces were operating in Libya, amid media reports of an incident involving French personnel in the country’s east.
"Special forces are there, of course, to help and to make sure France is present everywhere in the struggle against terrorists," Le Foll told reporters.
The statements by French officials come a day after Libyan sources said that a helicopter carrying French special forces had been shot down on Sunday outside the eastern city of Benghazi.
The incident highlights the secretive nature of Western military involvement in the North African country, which has been torn between rival militias, governments and parliaments.
Western powers are backing a new UN-sponsored Libyan unity government, hoping it will seek foreign support to confront ISIS militants, who have profited from the Libyan turmoil to seize a strip of land along the country’s central coastline.
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