French Policeman Escapes Death after Being Shot in Mali
A French policeman told Friday how he cheated death after being shot outside his home in Mali, the first such attack since Paris launched a military offensive against Islamists in its former colony.
Speaking soon after the attack in the capital Bamako, the officer, on secondment with the French army, described how he was ambushed by a gunman who opened fire, but said he managed to escape with his life after being grazed by a bullet.
"I was leaving my home by car when the man shot at me. I was slightly wounded in the head and shoulder," he told Agence France Presse.
The incident was confirmed by a senior police official who said the man was "lying in wait" for the officer.
There were conflicting reports about how the gunman was taken into custody but the National Gendarmerie in Paris told AFP the officer and his driver managed to overpower the man and take him to the Malian police.
A foreign police source said however the assailant was arrested by Malian security forces.
According to police in Bamako, the man was detained by neighbors of the officer, who had been sent to Bamako by France's 100,000-strong Gendarmerie, a branch of the military under the interior ministry in charge of national security and public safety.
The Bamako police said special forces had raided the gunman's home and found a home-made gun and "pile of religious books" on Islam.
"Even though he talked a lot about God, we cannot immediately conclude that it was a jihadist attack," one of the interrogating officers told AFP.
"But what is clear is that it was the French officer who was targeted."
Another Malian police source said the gunman was "unbalanced" and was angry with his victim for installing a "headache-inducing" satellite dish on his home.
"At the moment we have three lines of inquiry," a Malian security ministry source told AFP. "The man who fired the gun may not be in possession of all his faculties, or this could be the lone action of an extremist, or a targeted attack of a terrorist nature."
Police said they had stepped up security in the area.
A spokesman for the French foreign ministry said it was "too early to determine the circumstances of the attack and the motivations of the act."
Thousands of French troops have been in Mali since launching a military offensive in January to oust al-Qaida-linked fighters who had occupied the north and were advancing towards the capital.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://test.naharnet.com/stories/en/106865 |