Battle of Djebok

Battle of Djebok
Part of Northern Mali conflict
Date 12 – 15 March 2013 Location Djebock, Gao Region, Mali Result French Victory[1]
Belligerents
France  Mali	MOJWA
Strength
460 French 200 Malians	unknown
Casualties and losses
none	15-40 killed 8 pick-up trucks destroyed 1 motorcycle destroyed

The battle of Djebok was a battle that took place in March 2013 in the area of Djebok, during the Mali war.

The fight

The Franco-Malian troops left Gao on the 12th March heading to In Zekouan, arriving there by the evening, and beginning search operations. They found nothing, but when the night came, two pickup trucks came up with several Islamist fighters and attacked the Franco-Malian. After the two pick ups got destroyed, the terrorists abandoned their attack and managed to retreat. After this clash, two other pickups were spotted two kilometers away. The Franco-Malians attack them, destroying one, but failing to destroy the other. The next day, the French begin to search In Zekouan and discover an IED manufactured with a bomb plane. Shortly after the jihadists ambush a group of soldiers. The soldiers manage to push back the Islamist, entering the woods. But, another group of soldiers got attacked. The Franco-Malian soldiers begun to retreat, but then bombarded the Jhadists positions in the forest. In the night the fighting stops, and the Franco-Malians capture the area, but they find nor bodies nor traces of the Islamists.

On the 14th March, north of Imenas, an aircraft located a pickup truck whose passengers were placing an IED on the road that was ahead of the Franco-malian column. Fighter planes and three helicopters were sent to the scene. They ambushed six pickups Torteuli, some filled with explosives. The helicopters opened fire with their destroying all of the vehicles. The next day, the soldiers enter Torteuli but they are suddenly attacked by some fighters hidden in a hole. After a brief exchange of fire, the Islamists fled taking advantage of the woods.

The next day, French forces searhed the in Zekouan once again, but they did not find anything suspicius. None was killed in the side of the Franco-Malians during the fighting, but the French estimated that about 15 to 40 Islamists were killed during the battle.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

References

Coordinates: 16°21′00″N 0°19′00″E / 16.3500°N 0.3167°E / 16.3500; 0.3167