{"id":117760,"date":"2015-05-20T12:28:07","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T12:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=117760"},"modified":"2015-05-20T12:28:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T12:28:07","slug":"sahara-desert-gun-battle-yields-drugs-haul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/05\/sahara-desert-gun-battle-yields-drugs-haul\/","title":{"rendered":"Sahara desert gun battle yields drugs haul"},"content":{"rendered":"<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, the French military said.<\/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\" 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<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 to stop at a checkpoint on 14 May, the French military said. Soldiers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":117762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sahara desert gun battle yields drugs haul - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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